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Initiating Faith-based Tobacco Interventions : A Black Church Cessation Model

Background:
African Americans and individuals of low Socioeconomic Status (low SES) have a higher smoking prevalence than the general US population and suffer more from tobacco-related diseases.  African Americans living at or below the poverty level often have less access to tobacco education, cessation and support services that are culturally tailored to them.

In 2008, the American Legacy Foundation provided funding to the CDC-funded National Tobacco Prevention and Control Networks to address disparities in tobacco prevention and cessation.  This project will provide the opportunity to test a cessation model currently in use by the National Network on Tobacco Prevention and Poverty (Addressing Disparities in Tobacco Cessation: A Program for Mental Health, Homeless and Substance Abuse Service Agencies) as a component that can be added to the National African American Tobacco Education Network faith-based toolkit (Be Free Indeed! Tobacco Prevention Tools for the African American Church) and assess its appropriateness as a faith-based cessation component for the African American church and local community based organizations..

  The following strategies are being implemented through this project:

• Increase the number of culturally tailored tobacco cessation resources for African American and low SES populations

• Increase access to quitline services

• Increase the capacity of  faith-based agencies serving these populations  to provide cessation counseling and support

Benefits:
Strategies focusing on reaching African American populations through the social and community organizations that historically serve them foster the initiation of organizational policies to reduce tobacco use, youth initiation, and exposure to secondhand smoke.

For more information please contact Coni Taylor at ctaylor@healthedcouncil.org or 916.556.3344