Ruth Dufresne presents on Maine Public Health Association Tobacco Webinar

Ruth Dufresne, SM, research associate in the School of Community and Population Health (SCPH), served as a speaker on the Maine Public Health Association Tobacco Webinar Series on January 16, 2014.

The webinar focused on "Tobacco Use and Control Data--The Maine Story." Dufresne presented on the Healthy Maine Partnerships’ (HMP) youth tobacco prevention impact evaluation on behalf of the HMP Evaluation Team, which includes Allison Morrill, JD, Ph.D., associate research professor in the SCPH.

The presentation covered the preliminary results of bivariate comparisons of tobacco-related dependent variables from the 2011 Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey by two groups of HMPs, grouped according to a high or low intensity of youth tobacco prevention focus during fiscal years 2007-2011.

In 2011, in the areas where the HMPs had a higher intensity youth tobacco prevention focus during fiscal years 2007-2011

•    Fewer youth smoked or intended to smoke
•    Fewer youth were exposed to secondhand smoke
•    The retail environment was less conducive to youth tobacco sales
•    Social norms were more anti-tobacco/smoking
•    Youth had a heightened perception of risk

All but one of these findings have less than 1% margin of error.

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