Inform Me: APPROACHES

The art of tobacco control comes in figuring out how to mix, match and balance a variety of approaches including forming partnerships, developing programs, influencing media and changing policy.

Build Partnerships
Tobacco education and prevention is too big a challenge to handle alone. That’s why building and maintaining a community-based coalition is such an important part of any tobacco education and prevention project. There’s an entire module called Build a Coalition that addresses this challenge. There are also a variety of national organizations, many with state-level chapters, with which community coalitions can build partnerships: (note: the following links will open in a new window)

American Cancer Society
American Heart Association
American Lung Association
National Jewish Medical and Research Center
National Center for Tobacco Free Kids
National Spit Tobacco Education Program

Develop Programs
By programs we mean community interventions that influence individuals, community organizations, systems and networks to support tobacco-free norms. These programs might include trainings, educational campaigns, youth mobilization and advocacy activities and efforts to enlist physicians to use the “5As” in their practice. (The “5As” are: Ask, Assess, Advise, Assist and Arrange for treatment. They are a brief but extremely useful intervention tool for tobacco cessation in the primary care setting.)

Influence Media
There’s no way a community coalition can match the tobacco companies’ billion-dollar marketing budgets in an effort to “unsell” tobacco products. That’s why it’s much more efficient to use the media – preferably free media – to change the environment in which tobacco is sold. To learn more, go to Media Advocacy.

Change Policy
Changing policy is a key component in any comprehensive tobacco education and prevention program. But, what kinds of policies are there? What policy should be changed? Who are the key players in formulating policy? To find out and learn more, go to Policy Advocacy section in the Learning Center.

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