Kochhar a Scholarship Recipient for National Tobacco Conference

Komal Kochhar, MBBS, M.H.A., Project Coordinator, Bowen Research Center and Department of Family Medicine, was selected to receive a presenter scholarship to attend the Access 2006 Conference: Preventing Youth Access to Tobacco in Seattle, Washington, April 12-14, 2006.

Scholarships were given based on need and quality of the abstract submitted. Dr. Kochhar’s abstract, "Factors Affecting Youth Awareness of Anti-Tobacco Media Messages", was determined to be exceedingly relevant to the topic of this conference. The abstract was co-written by Robert M. Saywell, Jr., Ph.D. and Terrell W. Zollinger, DrPH.

Abstract
Purpose: Prior to initiation of a state-wide media campaign, this study measured the impact of selected variables on youth awareness of national and local anti-tobacco messages in the media.

Method: A telephone survey in 2001 of 610 randomly selected Indiana youth (12 to 18 years old) obtained information on respondent’s tobacco-related knowledge, beliefs, use history, demographics and level of awareness of anti-tobacco messages.

Results: Three-fourths (78%) indicated that they had seen or heard an anti-tobacco message in the previous six months. Nearly all (94%) reported seeing the messages on TV, 69% heard them on the radio, 74% saw them in print media, and 68% saw the messages on billboards. Overall, 68% reported that the anti-tobacco message made them think about their tobacco use behavior, with little variation among the media types. Demographic factors were not related to awareness of anti-tobacco messages on TV. However, higher parental education led to greater awareness to the radio messages and white youth were more aware of the print media and billboard messages. There was not a consistent association between awareness of the anti-tobacco messages and use of tobacco products. Individual responses to the tobacco-related knowledge and beliefs items generally did not differ between those who were aware and those who were not aware of anti-tobacco messages.

Conclusion: This study found that most youth are aware of the TV media messages and two-thirds were aware of messages in the other media venues. Most indicated that the messages did make them think about their tobacco use.

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