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Virginia Commonwealth University
SmokefreeVCU
Project Description
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is an urban,
public institution with an enrollment of approximately 24,000 undergraduate,
graduate and first professional students. In 1998 its Office of Health
Promotion began a social norms marketing campaign to decrease tobacco
use. Five areas of interest were focused on:
- Perceptions
of smoking norms
- Attitudes
toward smoking
- Intention
to use tobacco
- Tobacco
use behavior
- Quit intentions
and attempts
Project Funding Source
Virginia Department of Health
Project Objective
To reduce tobacco use and build understanding that most
students do not smoke. The goals of normalizing non-smoking are to:
- Prevent
students from starting
- Build support
for clean indoor air policies
- Increase
cessation among current users
Baseline Data
See Project Results.
Primary Normative Messages
There are several different campaigns that all employ
the same normative message: "7 out of 10 college students don't
smoke."
Marketing Methods Employed
Posters in residence halls, posters in classrooms, campus
newspaper ads, table tents, and promotional items (e.g. key chains).
There was also a nominal cash incentive for students who knew the content
of the normative message when asked by the campaign spokesperson: Darth
Vapor.
Evaluation
A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design was used.
VCU served as the intervention site and a large urban university in
the same state served as the control. Resident hall assistants at both
sites were trained to administer a 33-item survey during their first
hall meetings. The survey was optional and anonymous, but one item at
the end of the survey did request the last four digits of the social
security number (SSN). The grouped data, pretest and posttest from both
VCU and the control site, yielded a total n=2,367.
Data was
analyzed at two levels. Group analysis was undertaken using all 2,367
surveys and comparing groups at baseline and follow-up. In addition,
for those surveys that could be matched using last 4 digits of the SSN
and demographics, analysis was undertaken looking for change in individual
students over time at each site.
Project
Results
Group data: Intervention
site showed
- Significant change
in perception. Intervention site had more accurate perception of use.
- Significant change
in mindset of smokers
- No significant
change in tobacco use behavior or quit intentions at group level analysis
Matched (SSN) data:
Intervention site showed
- Significant reduction
in the number of cigarettes smoked on campus
- Significant change
in perceptions. Intervention site had more accurate perception of
use.
- Significant change
in attitude of smokers
- Significant change
in mindset of non-smokers
- No significant
differences in quit intentions or attempts
Principal
Investigator
Linda Hancock, FNP
Office of Health Promotion
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA 23284
Further
Information
See:
Hancock, L. and N. Henry. "Perceptions, Norms and Tobacco Use in
College Residence Hall Freshmen: Evaluation of a Social Norms Marketing
Intervention," (2003) in The Social Norms Approach To Preventing
School And College Age Substance Abuse: A Handbook For Educators, Counselors,
And Clinicians, Ed. H. Wesley Perkins. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Also:
http://www.thewell.vcu.edu/
Contains sample posters, testimonies of VCU students who have been "Always
Smokefree," and testimonials of students who have quit smoking.
**Portions
of the information presented on this page were originally prepared by Michael
Haines and Richard Rice and are printed here with their permission.
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