Transcript www.tarwars.org 800-TAR-WARS Presented by Ginnie Flynn Illinois Academy of Family Physicians

www.tarwars.org
800-TAR-WARS
Presented by Ginnie Flynn
Illinois Academy of Family Physicians
The Problem: Too Many
Smokers, Not Enough $
States cut funding for tobacco prevention programming by
28% in the last three years, and progress in reducing
youth smoking ground to a halt.
States spent $538 million on tobacco prevention
Big Tobacco spent $12.7 billion advertising
CDC reports from 2002-2004 – high school smoking rates
remained unchanged, middle school tobacco use decline
from 13.3% to 11.7%.
Tar Wars is
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A school-based tobacco prevention program
for 4th and 5th grade level
One hour, one class volunteer lesson
Nationwide and overseas effort reaching an
estimated 500,000 children each year
Developed in 1988 by a family physician and
health educator
Owned and operated by AAFP with funding
from the AAFP Foundation.
Tar Wars Partners
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Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
National Association of School Nurses
AAFP Constituent Chapters (states,
Uniformed Services)
Local partnerships with health
departments, Tobacco coalitions, medical
schools, school boards, allied health
professionals and community groups.
Tar Wars Objectives
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Increase knowledge of the short-term
effects of tobacco use
Realize that most people do not use
tobacco
Emphasize the benefits of being
tobacco-free
Learn how advertising influences people
to buy and use tobacco
Reasons to use the
Tar Wars Program
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FREE to schools and presenters
Can be used by variety of professionals
in many settings
Easy to fold into school calendar – one
hour, one day
Online program guide, nothing to order
Only supplies needed: drinking straws
and magazine ads for tobacco products.
Reasons to use the
Tar Wars Program
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Web site offers supplemental
activities that can be used in longer
programs
 State coordinators provide
information, facilitate communication
and administer state poster contest
 Poster contests offer exposure for
the issue and rewards for the
children
Reasons to use the
Tar Wars Program
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Nationally supported, founded by
physicians and updated annually to
ensure accuracy.
Program guide also available in Spanish
Lesson is age appropriate
The program is fun for kids and fun for
presenters
CDC Guidelines for School Health Programs to
Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction
Instruction should:
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Decrease the social acceptability of tobacco use and show
that most young people do not smoke.
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Help students understand why young people start to use
tobacco and identify more positive activities to meet their
goals.
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Develop students’ skills in assertiveness, goal setting,
problem solving, and resisting pressure from the media and
peers to use tobacco.
Tar Wars is consistent with these three guidelines
Snapshots of
Tar Wars at work
McLean County (central Illinois) 
Presented by McLean County Dept. of Public Health
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Illinois Academy of Family Physicians provides state
coordinator and infrastructure since 1998.
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Presented the Tar Wars program 72 times to 1,820
elementary students at 25 schools in 2004
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1,453 Students submitted posters for local contest
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22 elementary student posters will become billboards
in McLean County.
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Partnership with businesses and schools allowed for
billboards to continue even after state funding was
drastically reduced
Snapshots of
Tar Wars at work
McLean County (central Illinois) Pre and Post testing shows improvement in students’
knowledge
N=1,820
PRETEST
POSTTEST
Questions
Correct
%
14,058
14,058
11,74483.5
12,501
88.9
Most significant improvements shown in tobacco’s effect on heart rate and blood
pressure (+33%), tobacco advertisements misleading tactics (+11%)
98 % of the students responded that they enjoyed the Tar Wars program
Snapshots of
Tar Wars at work
McLean County (central Illinois) -
Snapshots of
Tar Wars at work
Bureau/Putnam counties (central Illinois)
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Presented by Bureau/Putnam Bi-County Dept. of
Public Health
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Active Tar Wars program since 2001
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Presented the Tar Wars program to 252 Bureau
County and 152 Putnam Co. school children in 2004
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100% of children reported in post test they enjoyed the
program.
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403 out of 404 students reported they would never try
tobacco
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Partnership with businesses and schools allowed for
billboards to continue even after state funding was
drastically reduced.
Snapshots of
Tar Wars at work
Pennsylvania
Administered by the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians
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2004 Pennsylvania Evaluation Survey Results
Total Surveys Tabulated
4,475
Pre-Test (2,976) Post-Test (1,499)
Key Findings:
Smoking decreases amount of air getting to lungs
Using tobacco speeds heart rate and raises BP
Tobacco ads tell the truth about using tobacco
Pretest
88.6%
56.9%
73.2%
Post test
92.7%
80.1%
86.6%
Snapshots of Illinois
Tar Wars at work
The National Poster Contest in Washington, D.C.
Winner’s travel funded by IAFP Foundation
Illinois 2002 winner with U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin
Snapshots of Illinois
Tar Wars at work
The National Poster Contest in Washington, D.C.
Illinois 2003 winner and family in front of the U.S. Capitol
Evaluation of the Colorado
Tar Wars Program
State Tobacco Education and Prevention
Program (STEPP) 01-02 grant
-Colorado AFP and U. of Colorado Health
Sciences, Dept. of Family Medicine
299 Schools
900 Classrooms
22,000 Children
Cigarettes which contain low tar are safe, p < 0.001
100.0%
86.5%
Pre
Post
77.0%
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.4%
20.0%
11.5%
2.6%
2.1%
0.0%
TRUE
FALSE
DON'T KNOW
Smoking decreases amount of air in lungs, p < 0.001
100.0%
91.4%
Pre
84.7%
Post
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
5.3%
10.0%
4.2%
4.4%
0.0%
TRUE
FALSE
DON'T KNOW
100.0%
Smoking a pack of cigarettes a day costs over several
hundred dollars per year, p < 0.001
89.3%
Pre
Post
80.0%
66.9%
60.0%
40.0%
28.1%
20.0%
4.9%
5.4%
5.3%
0.0%
TRUE
FALSE
DON'T KNOW
Advertisers tell the truth about tobacco use, p < 0.0001
100.0%
80.5%
Pre
Post
80.0%
57.9%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
28.2%
13.9%
10.4%
9.1%
0.0%
TRUE
FALSE
DON'T KNOW
What percentage of kids your age do not use tobacco
every week, p < 0.0001
100.0%
Pre
80.0%
60.0%
Post
70.7%
59.8%
40.0%
20.9%
20.0%
13.6%
10.3%
4.5%
9.0% 11.2%
0.0%
About 95%
About 70%
About 50%
About 25%
Get Started with Tar Wars
Go to www.tarwars.org for program guide
and to locate your state coordinator
 Get local, district, county, state schools to
give you one hour of one day.
 Share with your tobacco-control partners
 Make Tar Wars part of your
comprehensive tobacco prevention efforts
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