| Learning Objective #1: Learn how urban African-American boys and girls in middle school interpret media messages they receive about tobacco prevention and how that enters into decisions to smoke or not smoke cigarettes | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Interpret how Social Cognitive Theory can be used in the design of messages sent to urban African-American youth about smoking prevention so that the youth like the message, a precursor to listening |
Smoking cigarettes is the number one preventable cause of cancer deaths, yet African American youth have more than doubled their rates of smoking initiation since 1992, and almost 77% of these youth have been influenced by tobacco advertising (USDHHS,2000). These data are cause for grave concern, since African Americans suffer the highest death rates from cancer caused by smoking. However, the literature is virtually nonexistent about what engages the attention of African American youth, and how to deliver an effective message (USDHHS 2000, 2001). The goal of this descriptive, correlational multi-site study is to yield information that may eventually lead to a reduction in initiation of cigarette smoking by African American youth. The study will examine how youth evaluation of overall liking correlates with message design of tobacco prevention advertisement semented by 1) gender of participant 2) race of actors in the commercial and 3) characteristics of classroom aggregates.The theoretical framework of this study is Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), and all the tobacco prevention television commercials evaluated in the study were designed on the basis of SCT . It is well accepted that SCT is a credible basis for an effective tobacco prevention messaging by creating and reflecting norms and self efficacy (personal communication, Flynn, 2002). In a pilot study, the author examined overall liking of tobacco prevention commercials with ratings of perceived characteristics. The study showed statistically significant correlations (P=.01 or P<.05) between highly liked commercials with corresponding messages based on social norms (Bongiorno, 1998). Nurses are often key members of interdisciplinary tobacco prevention efforts, yet have little understanding of how and why health promotion messages work. The results from this study will help nurses understand what types of messages may entice African-American youth to never smoke cigarettes.
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