The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Office on Smoking and Health has published an updated Best Practices User Guide: Youth Engagement in Tobacco Prevention and Control. The guide was written in partnership with the Center for Public Health Systems Science at Washington University in St. Louis.
This user guide focuses on the critical role of youth engagement in achieving tobacco prevention and control goals. Youth bring energy and enthusiasm to tobacco control efforts and play a vital role in educating the public and mobilizing their peers to push strategies forward.
Since the publication of the first Youth Engagement user guide in 2010, the tobacco control landscape has dramatically changed. New tobacco products have shifted patterns of youth tobacco use, new media platforms have changed how youth communicate, and innovative new strategies have emerged to reduce tobacco use. Because we cannot end the tobacco epidemic without preventing initiation among young people, it is more critical now than ever before that programs engage youth in tobacco control efforts. This user guide gives tobacco control program staff and partners updated information on how involve youth as partners in reducing tobacco use and preventing initiation.
The Best Practices User Guide: Youth Engagement in Tobacco Prevention and Control can help you:
- Develop a comprehensive approach to youth engagement that includes preparing to engage youth, involving youth in new tobacco control strategies, and sustaining youth engagement over time;
- Learn from new examples of efforts to engage youth in tobacco prevention and control;
- Make the case for investing in youth engagement; and
- Identify the best tobacco control resources and tools to help in planning efforts.
The online version of the guide is available on CDC’s website.