Youth Tobacco Cessation Collaborative
Encyclopedia
The Youth Tobacco Cessation Collaborative (YTCC) was formed in the United States in 1998 to address the gap in knowledge about what cessation strategies are most effective in assisting youth to quit smoking
. Collaborative members represent major organizations that fund research, program, and policy initiatives related to controlling youth tobacco use.
The National Blueprint for Action for youth
and young adult
tobacco-use cessation was published in the Spring of 2000 by the Youth Tobacco Cessation Collaborative. The youth cessation blueprint was developed as a consensus document to guide decisions regarding funding research and programs related to youth tobacco-use cessation, to reflect common goals and objectives among national organizations that fund such efforts, to help ensure that funding plans and programs across organizations build the strongest possible national efforts to support youth cessation, and to coordinate funding efforts.
The blueprint includes two-, five-, and 10-year objectives and funding strategies for research, implementation, and support and demand. Since publishing the blueprint, collaborative members have worked successfully to collectively address many of the needs identified in the blueprint, with a focus on its two-year objectives.
Among the more significant and important developments are the relationships that have formed among the collaborative organizations, the increase in collaboration across organizations, the co-funding of research and other projects, and the increase in attention to the issue of cessation among youth. In addition, the blueprint approach has become a model for other activities such as the National Blueprint for Disseminating and Implementing Evidence-Based Clinical and Community Strategies to Promote Tobacco-Use Cessation and the National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit’s Action Plan (May 2002).
The Collaborative recognizes that there is a need to explore and address the cessation needs and interests among different segments of the population of young tobacco users, defined by factors such as:
In addition, it must be recognized that youth considering quitting do so within the context of other competing needs (e.g. family or living situation) and societal influences (e.g. accessibility to tobacco products). The Collaborative affirms the need to examine a broad range of possible interventions including individual, interpersonal, and organizational approaches. The Collaborative also encourages the involvement of youth in efforts to reach the objectives articulated in the National Blueprint for Action.
In order to reach the ten year goal, a range of needs must be addressed in funding and conducting research, in developing and supporting proven interventions, in implementing and maintaining policy changes, in increasing public awareness of and support for youth tobacco-use cessation, and in raising young tobacco-users’ interests in cessation.
To find out more information about YTCC or to become a member, please visit us at http://www.youthtobaccocessation.org/. YTCC can also be reached through the Academy for Educational Development (AED), which is funded by the collaborative to coordinate its activities.
Smoking cessation
Smoking cessation is the process of discontinuing the practice of inhaling a smoked substance. This article focuses exclusively on cessation of tobacco smoking; however, the methods described may apply to cessation of smoking other substances that can be difficult to stop using due to the...
. Collaborative members represent major organizations that fund research, program, and policy initiatives related to controlling youth tobacco use.
The National Blueprint for Action for youth
Youth
Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...
and young adult
Young adult (psychology)
A young adult, according to Erik Erikson's stages of human development, is generally a person between the age of 20 - 40, whereas an adolescent is a person between the age of 13 - 19, although definitions and opinions vary. The young adult stage in human development precedes middle adulthood. A...
tobacco-use cessation was published in the Spring of 2000 by the Youth Tobacco Cessation Collaborative. The youth cessation blueprint was developed as a consensus document to guide decisions regarding funding research and programs related to youth tobacco-use cessation, to reflect common goals and objectives among national organizations that fund such efforts, to help ensure that funding plans and programs across organizations build the strongest possible national efforts to support youth cessation, and to coordinate funding efforts.
The blueprint includes two-, five-, and 10-year objectives and funding strategies for research, implementation, and support and demand. Since publishing the blueprint, collaborative members have worked successfully to collectively address many of the needs identified in the blueprint, with a focus on its two-year objectives.
Among the more significant and important developments are the relationships that have formed among the collaborative organizations, the increase in collaboration across organizations, the co-funding of research and other projects, and the increase in attention to the issue of cessation among youth. In addition, the blueprint approach has become a model for other activities such as the National Blueprint for Disseminating and Implementing Evidence-Based Clinical and Community Strategies to Promote Tobacco-Use Cessation and the National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit’s Action Plan (May 2002).
Blueprint goal
The ten-year goal of the National Blueprint is to ensure that every young tobacco user (age 12–24) has access to appropriate and effective cessation interventions by the year 2010.The Collaborative recognizes that there is a need to explore and address the cessation needs and interests among different segments of the population of young tobacco users, defined by factors such as:
- Different stages of tobacco use (from experimentation to addiction);
- Varying patterns of regular use (across times of days, days of the weekDays of the weekThe names of the days of the week from the Roman period have been both named after the seven planets of classical astronomy and numbered, beginning with Monday. In Slavic languages, a numbering system was adopted, but beginning with Monday. There was an even older tradition of names in Ancient...
, and seasons of the year); - Use of different types of tobacco products;
- Different development stages of adolescence;
- Cultural and demographic difference (e.g. gender, race and ethnicity, social groupsGroup (sociology)In the social sciences a social group can be defined as two or more humans who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity...
, and geographic locationGeographic coordinate systemA geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represent vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent horizontal position...
); - Differences in life points or settings (e.g. school, college, workplace, incarceration, shelters);
- Co-morbidities with mental healthMental healthMental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
conditions (e.g. attention deficit disorderAttention-deficit hyperactivity disorderAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a developmental disorder. It is primarily characterized by "the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone" and symptoms starting before seven years of age.ADHD is the most commonly studied and...
, depression) - Use of multiple substances.
In addition, it must be recognized that youth considering quitting do so within the context of other competing needs (e.g. family or living situation) and societal influences (e.g. accessibility to tobacco products). The Collaborative affirms the need to examine a broad range of possible interventions including individual, interpersonal, and organizational approaches. The Collaborative also encourages the involvement of youth in efforts to reach the objectives articulated in the National Blueprint for Action.
In order to reach the ten year goal, a range of needs must be addressed in funding and conducting research, in developing and supporting proven interventions, in implementing and maintaining policy changes, in increasing public awareness of and support for youth tobacco-use cessation, and in raising young tobacco-users’ interests in cessation.
Achievements
To provide an update on the accomplishments of its work, YTCC publishes a “highlights” document that outlines activity of the collaborative toward its short- and long-term goals. These activity highlights illustrate just some of the progress that has been made. Although progress is significant, more attention to this issue is needed.YTCC members
Collaborative members represent major organizations that fund research, program, and policy initiatives related to controlling youth tobacco use. The collaborative includes the following organizations:- American Cancer Society
- American Legacy Foundation
- American Lung Association
- Canadian Tobacco Control Research Initiative
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- National Cancer Institute
- National Cancer Institute of Canada
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
To find out more information about YTCC or to become a member, please visit us at http://www.youthtobaccocessation.org/. YTCC can also be reached through the Academy for Educational Development (AED), which is funded by the collaborative to coordinate its activities.