OREGON RESEARCH BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION STRATEGIES, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: NIDA

Description

The overarching goal of the proposed research is to demonstrate the feasibility of modifying an existing effective computer based tobacco prevention program Click City Tobacco funded by NIH R CA to prevent the initiation of e cigarette use e g e cigarettes and other vaping devices among youth Click City Tobacco is a school based program for th graders with a booster in th grade designed to be delivered prior to smoking initiation The program s components each target a specific risk factor predictive of smoking and each component was evaluated to assure that it changed the targeted factor prior to including it in the final program In addition Click City Tobacco has features that make it appealing to consumers including a method of delivery that encourages student engagement and fidelity of implementation and requires little teacher training or implementation time Results of a randomized trial suggested that the program was effective in decreasing th and th graders intentions to smoke and their willingness to try smoking if given the opportunity and that these changes were maintained until the th grade Andrews et al Andrews et al Within this Phase I SBIR we propose to accomplish the following aims Develop two new components which are effective at changing risk factors predictive of future initiation and use of e cigarettes Development will consist of a formative process including focus and user testing and a summative component evaluation using a cross over design Within this component evaluation we will test the hypothesis that each new component changes the risk factor that it was designed to change Modify two existing components to also target e cigarette use Following focus and user testing we will conduct a component evaluation to test the hypothesis that each revised component changes not only the risk factor associated with e cigarettes but also the risk factor associated with cigarettes Support for our Phase I hypotheses will demonstrate the feasibility of the development process planned for Phase II and the probability that Phase II activities will result in an effective marketable product Our plans for Phase II include developing additional components targeting e cigarettes and modifying all appropriate existing components to also target e cigarettes use as well as other novel nicotine products We will also revise the Click City Tobacco parent newsletters and teacher s manual Finally we will conduct a short term effectiveness trial in schools across Oregon and Arizona focusing on schools within counties with a high smoking prevalence There is a demand for effective school based programs for the prevention of e cigarette and other novel product use As of August there is no evidence indicating that NIH is funding the development and testing of a program designed to prevent the use of e cigarettes Thus the proposed enhanced version of Click City Tobacco will address an important gap in the marketplace for prevention programs by creating and empirically evaluating a program targeting conventional tobacco products as well as e cigarettes and other novel nicotine products Project Narrative The overarching goal of the proposed research is to enhance an existing effective computer based tobacco prevention program Click City Tobacco to also prevent the initiation of e cigarette use among youth Within this Phase I study we will examine the effectiveness of two newly developed components specifically targeting risk factors associated with the onset of e cigarette use and two modified components designed to target e cigarette use as well as smoking The feasibility of enhancing the program to also target e cigarettes will be demonstrated if the new and revised components change the risk factors they are hypothesized to change