POS Community Support Survey: Baseline Assessment

This baseline assessment of tobacco advertising and promotion in St. Louis County indicated the need for county-wide adoption of point of sale (POS) policies. Community support for the restriction and elimination of tobacco product advertising and promotion is important to developing and implementing POS policies. In order to assess support for POS policies residents, the evaluation team conducted a survey of 500 St. Louis County residents.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cphss/1052/thumbnail.jp

School Tobacco Policy Index

This rating form illustrates policies assessed within The School District Tobacco Policy Rating System, which is a standardized method to assess the comprehensiveness of public district-wide tobacco policies.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cphss/1042/thumbnail.jp

Diabetes topics associated with engagement on Twitter

INTRODUCTION: Social media are widely used by the general public and by public health and health care professionals. Emerging evidence suggests engagement with public health information on social media may influence health behavior. However, the volume of data accumulating daily on Twitter and other social media is a challenge for researchers with limited resources to further examine how social media influence health. To address this challenge, we used crowdsourcing to facilitate the examination of topics associated with engagement with diabetes information on Twitter. METHODS: We took a random sample of 100 tweets that included the hashtag “#diabetes” from each day during a constructed week in May and June 2014. Crowdsourcing through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform was used to classify tweets into 9 topic categories and their senders into 3 Twitter user categories. Descriptive statistics and Tweedie regression were used to identify tweet and Twitter user characteristics associated with 2 measures of engagement, “favoriting” and “retweeting.” RESULTS: Classification was reliable for tweet topics and Twitter user type. The most common tweet topics were medical and nonmedical resources for diabetes. Tweets that included information about diabetes-related health problems were positively and significantly associated with engagement. Tweets about diabetes prevalence, nonmedical resources for diabetes, and jokes or sarcasm about diabetes were significantly negatively associated with engagement. CONCLUSION: Crowdsourcing is a reliable, quick, and economical option for classifying tweets. Public health practitioners aiming to engage constituents around diabetes may want to focus on topics positively associated with engagement

Developing an evidence-based program sustainability training curriculum: A group randomized, multi-phase approach

Abstract Background The emergence of dissemination and implementation (D&I) science has driven a rapid increase in studies of how new scientific discoveries are translated and developed into evidence-based programs and policies. However, D&I science has paid much less attention to what happens to programs once they have been implemented. Public health programs can only deliver benefits if they reach maturity and sustain activities over time. In order to achieve the full benefits of significant investment in public health research and program development, there must be an understanding of the factors that relate to sustainability to inform development of tools and trainings to support strategic long-term program sustainability. Tobacco control programs, specifically, vary in their abilities to support and sustain themselves over time. As of 2018, most states still do not meet the CDC-recommended level for funding their TC program, allowing tobacco use to remain the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the USA. The purpose of this study is to empirically develop, test, and disseminate training programs to improve the sustainability of evidence-based state tobacco control programs and thus, tobacco-related health outcomes. Methods This paper describes the methods of a group randomized, multi-phase study that evaluates the empirically developed “Program Sustainability Action Planning Training” and technical assistance in US state-level tobacco control programs. Phase 1 includes developing the sustainability action planning training curriculum and technical assistance protocol and developing measures to assess long-term program sustainability. Phase 2 includes a group randomized trial to test the effectiveness of the training and technical assistance in improving sustainability outcomes in 24 state tobacco control programs (12 intervention, 12 comparison). Phase 3 includes the active dissemination of final training curricula materials to a broader public health audience. Discussion Empirical evidence has established that program sustainability can improve through training and technical assistance; however, to our knowledge, no evidence-based sustainability training curriculum program exists. Therefore, systematic methods are needed to develop, test, and disseminate a training that improves the sustainability of evidence-based programs. Trial registration NCT03598114. Registered 25 July 2018—retrospectively registered

Actual causes of death in relation to media, policy, and funding attention: Examining public health priorities

Despite numerous public health advancements over the last century, we continue to under-invest in prevention and public health efforts. As a result, one of the most challenging aspects of public health is prioritizing the use of limited resources. Building on the foundation of previous researchers, the goal of this exploratory study was to provide current estimates for the actual causes of death, media attention, policy focus, and research funding in the United States. In addition, we sought to calculate and compare media attention, policy attention, and research funding trends to better assess the nation\u27s prioritization of health issues. Using a systematic approach, we searched available databases, including Media Cloud, Nexis Uni, Congress.gov, and the Department of Health and Human Services Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System from January 1, 2010-December 31, 2019 and compared how the actual causes of death in the United States align with health-related media attention, policy attention, and federal spending. Overall, our findings suggest that our priorities are not well-aligned with the actual causes of death. Certain actual causes appear to be consistently misaligned across media, legislative, and financial sectors (e.g., tobacco). This work highlights the importance of multiple strategies-media coverage, national legislation, and government spending-as indicators of public health attention and priorities. These results may inform discussions about how to best allocate U.S. public health resources to better align with the actual causes of death

Prevalence of cigarette advertising and other promotional strategies at the point of sale in St Louis, Missouri: Analysis by store type and distance from a school

INTRODUCTION: Point-of-sale advertising provides an opportunity for the tobacco industry to communicate with current and potential smokers. The US Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act allows states to implement policies requiring that tobacco products be placed out of sight, and the Food and Drug Administration is considering banning point-of-sale advertising within 1,000 feet of schools. Our objective was to compare cigarette point-of-sale advertising near schools with grades prekindergarten through 12 and by store type. METHODS: All registered cigarette retailers (n = 1,229) and schools (n = 581) in the city of St Louis and St Louis County were geocoded and mapped by using ArcGIS. Retailers were divided into 2 groups, those within 1,000 feet and those within 1,001 to 2,000 feet of a school; 200 retailers from each group were randomly selected. We assessed tobacco interior and exterior advertising, brands advertised, discounts, gifts with purchase, “no sales to minors” signage, and cigarette functional items (eg, advertising on shopping baskets). Analyses were done by distance from a school and store type. RESULTS: We analyzed 340 retailers. Most retailers within 1,000 feet (91.2%) and from 1,001 to 2,000 feet (94.2%) of a school displayed cigarette advertising (P = .20). Convenience stores had the highest number of interior ads. In multivariable models, distance from school explained 0.2% of the variance in total advertising. CONCLUSION: Cigarette point-of-sale advertising is highly prevalent in St Louis within 1,000 feet of schools. A ban based on distance from a school might decrease advertising exposure, but its effect on smoking prevalence is yet to be determined because advertising farther from schools would still prevail

Pricing Policy: a Tobacco Control Guide

This tobacco control guide, co-published by CPHSS and the Public Health Law Center (formerly Tobacco Control Legal Consortium) is designed to help state and local tobacco control staff build effective and sustainable comprehensive tobacco control programs. This guide focuses on the role pricing policies can play as part of a comprehensive tobacco control program.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cphss/1046/thumbnail.jp

St. Louis County CPPW Evaluation Final Report

This report presents final evaluation results from the Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) Initiative, implemented from February 2010 through June 2012. The final results show CPPW partners implemented a number of activities to achieve the main objectives of the Initiative. In particular, advocacy and policy change, cessation, and media outreach were important areas of focus.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cphss/1055/thumbnail.jp

Private Schools: Baseline Policy Assessment

This report presents the findings from a baseline assessment of tobacco policies in private schools in St. Louis County Districts 1 through 4. These findings were provided to the St. Louis County Department of Health and other CPPW stakeholders, including the Leadership Team and initiative grantees, to help inform intervention efforts for strengthening school tobacco policies.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cphss/1048/thumbnail.jp

Best News User Guide: Coalitions

This user guide was created to help tobacco control staff and partners implement evidence-based best practices by translating research into practical guidance. The user guides focus on strategies (e.g., programs and interventions) that have shown strong or promising evidence of effectiveness. Recommendations in this guide are suggestions for utilizing coalitions in comprehensive tobacco control programs.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cphss/1062/thumbnail.jp