Smoke-Free Paso del Norte Health Foundation Grant
PATCH Lab team 2006
Dr. Cooper is the Principal Investigator on the Smoke-Free Paso del Norte Health Foundation Grant: Toward a Smoke-Free UTEP: The First Step in a Collaborative Tobacco Cessation Effort. This project was the first step in a collaborative effort between the PATCH laboratory and the UTEP Student Health Center. The aims of this program included the provision of brief assessment and intervention to students who had recently smoked. Participants were asked to complete initial assessments including questions about demographics, tobacco use and cessation history, level of nicotine dependence, stages of change measures, as well as height, weight, and carbon monoxide level measurement. All students were provided a brief intervention including advice to quit smoking, the generation of costs of smoking and benefits of quitting smoking, and ways to prepare for a cessation attempt. Participants were asked to complete and return a follow-up assessment packet by mail two weeks following the initial contact . A subsample of students were invited to focus groups where current program and preferences for future programs were more comprehensively and qualitatively assessed.