Trial Information

Curbing Tobacco Use in Suburban and Rural Schools

The proposed study will test the effectiveness of the Internet-based cigarette smoking and
spit tobacco (ST) prevention and cessation in-class curriculum for rural teens.
Supplemented by "cyber-support" (chat room and bulletin board), the intervention program
also will make use of a human social support environment (via trained school personnel, chat
rooms, bulletin boards). The study will use a nested cohort design in which high schools
are the unit of design, allocation, and analysis. Tenth-grade students (ages 14-16) within
each intervention school will receive a 7-week interactive, Internet-based tobacco
prevention and cessation curriculum. Using computerized surveys, study participants will be
evaluated at baseline, 6-month, 12-month, and 18-month follow-ups. The study has been
designed to permit analyses sensitive enough to detect differences for the two primary
hypotheses: reductions in smoking initiation and smoking cessation. Trends in ST use after
exposure to the intervention program will also be assessed. The design will also permit
analysis of stage-of-change dynamics and mediators for both acquisition and cessation of
both forms of tobacco.