Engaging Students in Advancing Campus Tobacco-Free Policies: A Qualitative Study of California Community Colleges’ Efforts

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Harsamizadeh Tehrani, Setareh ; Trieu, Sang Leng ; Dao, Lien ; Samuel, Carissa ; Lui, Camillia K.
• Description:
  Introduction ; Tobacco use remains a serious problem for young adults. Given the large number of young adults attending college, a tobacco-free campus is one strategy to reduce tobacco use. Young adult engagement is recognized as a common strategic practice in tobacco control policy efforts, especially in changing social norms around tobacco use. Community colleges can leverage and engage students in adoption of campus 100% tobacco-free policies. This qualitative study examines the importance of student engagement in advancing 100% tobacco-free policies in community colleges and identifies strategies for campuses to involve students in such efforts. ; Methods ; We selected 12 community colleges and conducted key informant interviews with campus and community-based organizations that were involved in campus policy adoption efforts. We conducted 33 semistructured interviews and transcribed, coded, and analyzed them by using a thematic analytic framework with inductive and deductive approaches to examine student engagement processes. ; Results ; Community colleges represented campuses with (n = 6) and without (n = 6) tobacco-free policy and varied by geography (urban vs rural) and student population size. Three main themes emerged: 1) no “wrong door” for students to engage in tobacco control work, 2) a myriad of ways for students to be involved in policy adoption, and 3) benefits of student engagement. ; Conclusion ; We found that students are doers, allies, and champions in adoption of 100% campus tobacco-free policy. Colleges should leverage their campuses’ most important assets — students — to be agents of change and to involve them in the full spectrum of interventions and advocacy.
• Subjects:
  • Young Adult
  • Humans
  • Smoke-Free Policy
  • Tobacco Control
  • Tobacco Use
  • Students
  • Universities
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 2023; 20
• DOI:
  http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd20.230082
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Pubmed ID:
  37943726
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10684277
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California
• Volume:
  20
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/151069/cdc_151069_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 475.57 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:21358f817de35cf4b8745d3a5db9ea51458232b48edd13a82056c872e12ae78091cb6a3b5b49bb723c1e7024e292f4aba80dae60dd371f5d9c0b572645192906