NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 2, JULY 2003                                                                                               Archive 

Preliminary report is in: ASCENT works!!!

Every day 6,000 youth try smoking for the first time-and one out of three of these smokers will die from cigarette addiction. In a report entitled "Tobacco Use Among Youth: A Cross-Country Comparison" published in the August 27, 2002, issue of Tobacco Control (www.tobaccocontrol.com), approximately half the youth in the United States replied that they were interested in quitting smoking. In response to this growing need of cessation interventions targeting youth, Danya International, Inc., has developed Adolescent Smoking Cessation Escaping Nicotine and Tobacco (ASCENT), a multifaceted smoking cessation intervention based appropriately on cognitive theory for teens ages 14-18.

Currently two evaluations are in the process of being conducted. The first, an outcome evaluation, is almost complete and will determine if the ASCENT program has an effect on smoking behavior, progression through Stages of Change, and knowledge and intentions regarding smoking. Data collection is near completion. Youth participating in the ASCENT program (treatment group) are being analyzed against youth in a comparison group. Specifically, it was hypothesized that teens in the treatment group would smoke less, have a higher quit rate, report greater progression through the Stages of Change, demonstrate more knowledge about smoking, and report increased intentions to quit smoking. One hundred sixteen (116) student smokers (ages 14-18 years) who smoked at least one cigarette a day for the past 30 days were randomly assigned to either the 6-week ASCENT program or to a comparison group receiving no treatment. Random assignment effectively resulted in groups that were similar at baseline in demographic characteristics and smoking history. Participants in the treatment group attended six weekly sessions and were encouraged to quit smoking on the fourth session, the program's targeted quit date.

Our preliminary findings support the effectiveness of the ASCENT program.

• At the end of the program, youth in the ASCENT program reported that they attempted to quit smoking more times in the past 7 days than the comparison group (1.6 vs. 1.1, p<.05).



• At the end of the program, a smaller percent of the treatment group reported smoking daily in the past 30 days when examined against the comparison group (24.6% vs. 46.9%, p<.05).



• A greater percent of the treatment group reported that they had confidence in their ability to reduce their smoking by the end of the program (65.4% vs. 46.7%, p<.05).



• At the 30-day follow-up, 19.3% of the treatment group reported not smoking in the past 30 days compared to only 6.5% of the comparison group (p<.05).



• At the 30-day follow-up, 37.5% of the treatment group reported not smoking in the past 24 hours compared to 21.7% of the comparison group (p<.05).

Another evaluation is ending soon and will measure the process by which training staff in two additional high schools have implemented the ASCENT intervention on their own. Final results from both evaluations will be posted in the next issue.

In conclusion, youth who participated in the ASCENT program reported reduced smoking rates, more confidence in their ability to quit smoking, and higher quit rates. These preliminary findings suggest that this intervention is effective in reducing teen smoking.