Faith-based leaders' opinions before and after a youth tobacco prevention workshop
Reinert, B.; Carver, V.; Range, L.M.; Campbell, C.
Journal of Cultural Diversity 13(4): 177-180
2006
ISSN/ISBN: 1071-5568 PMID: 17338486 Document Number: 604368
To determine if religious leaders' (N = 253) opinions changed after a 1-day workshop on integrating a "Students Working Against Tobacco" educational program into Sunday school or other youth programs at church, participants, most of whom were African-American, completed a pretest and posttest survey. Leaders' opinions regarding their expertise in this area reflected more confidence following the workshop. Both before and after the workshop, they were firm in their belief that tobacco prevention programs have an impact and that tobacco use could be prevented. Surprisingly, their belief that tobacco use is a morality issue changed from neutral to mild agreement. Given the responsiveness of participants, faith-based leaders are promising vehicles for delivering tobacco use prevention messages.