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Visit our Projects page to read full descriptions of each TPEP project below.


Click on the links below to view completed reports as PDF documents.

National African American Tobacco Prevention Network (NAATPN) Evaluation

The National African American Tobacco Prevention Network (NAATPN) is a private non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to “facilitate the development and implementation of comprehensive and community competent public health programs to benefit communities and people of African descent.” TPEP is conducting a five-year project to assess NAATPN’s impact on reducing tobacco-related and cancer health disparities among African American communities.

 

Breathe Easy, Live Well Pilot Program Evaluation

Tobacco use among individuals with mental illness remains a major health inequality. To address this, the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund funded the Southern Regional Area Health Education Center (SR-AHEC) to pilot a wellness and tobacco cessation curriculum originally developed by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey at nine clubhouses (voluntary, participatory day centers for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness) across the state. The $505,000 Breathe Easy, Live Well program is being implemented from 2008 to 2011. The Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation Program assisted in the development of the program’s logic model and evaluation plan and independently conducts interviews with clubhouse staff and surveys of participating clubhouse members to evaluate the implementation of this pilot project.

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Teen Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Initiatives

The Teen Initiative, funded by the NC Department of Health and Human Services, includes over 50 organizations working to educate young people about the dangers of tobacco use. TPEP conducts outcomes and programmatic evaluations for all components of the Teen Initiative to demonstrate the effectiveness of the initiative at reaching its desired outcomes, and to make recommendations for program improvement.

Quarterly Reports

Semi-Annual Survey Reports

Annual Reports

Technical Assistance Report

Logic Models

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Tobacco-Free Colleges Initiative Evaluation

The Tobacco-Free Colleges Initiative works to prevent and reduce tobacco use among North Carolina young adults through the promotion of tobacco-free policies and cessation services on college campuses across the state.

TPEP conducts the outcomes evaluation for the Colleges Initiative. The purpose of the evaluation is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the initiative at reaching its desired outcomes, and to make recommendations for program improvement. The evaluation team is responsible for collecting baseline and monthly progress data from grantees using a web-based tracking system, as well as analyzing and disseminating results through the NC Tobacco-Free Colleges Initiative.

Evaluation data have been used to report on the Initiative’s successes nationally at the American Public Health Association, National Conference on Tobacco or Health, NC Public Health Association, and in Tobacco Control

For more information on the evaluation, contact the evaluation manager Joseph Lee (jose.lee.unc.edu).

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TRU Media Campaign Evaluation

In 2004 a tobacco use prevention television media campaign for youth called Tobacco.Reality.Unfiltered. (TRU) was initiated to complement their community-based tobacco prevention and cessation programs. An on-going evaluation of the campaign is one of TPEP’s current projects.

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QuitlineNC Evaluation

TPEP conducts an independent outcomes evaluation for the NC Tobacco Quitline, a proactive, telephone-based, tobacco cessation service that provides support and information to all North Carolinians.

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West Virginia LGBT Tobacco Survey

West Virginia Covenant House contracted with TPEP to provide an independent survey of smoking in West Virginia’s lesbian, gay, and bisexual community.

2010 WV LGB Tobacco Survey Final Report

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State Health Plan Evaluation

The North Carolina General Assembly passed Session Law 2009-16 in April 2009. This legislation required the State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees (SHP) to develop and implement a Comprehensive Wellness Initiative (CWI) focusing specifically on tobacco cessation and weight management. The NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund (HWTF), which leads a substantial portion of the State’s tobacco prevention and cessation efforts, partnered with the SHP to fund process evaluations of the tobacco cessation component of the CWI. These process evaluations are designed to help the SHP understand and improve the implementation of their future programs. The evaluations included: a) focus groups and interviews with diverse SHP members enrolled in the 70/30 Plan who also use tobacco products, and b) a web-based satisfaction survey of SHP members who utilized QuitlineNC, a free telephone cessation coaching service. This report summarizes the quantitative data from the web-based survey evaluating SHP members who utilized QuitlineNC.

The evaluations also included: a) focus groups and interviews with diverse SHP members enrolled in the 70/30 Plan who also use tobacco products, and b) a web-based satisfaction survey of SHP members who utilized QuitlineNC, a free telephone cessation coaching service. This report summarizes the qualitative data from the focus groups and individual interviews. Outcome evaluations of how the CWI tobacco cessation component may have led to increased cessation among SHP tobacco users are the subject of separate research.

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Youth Tobacco Prevention Evaluation

North Carolina (NC) youth smoking rates in 2011 were at a historic low, likely based in large part on comprehensive youth prevention programs established in NC from 2003-2011. This program founded by the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund, was eliminated June 2011. The NC Department of Health and Human Services’ Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch (TPCB) continued the tobacco prevention and control programs for an additional year, with a one-time transfer of Health and Wellness funding that expired in June 2012. The following year (July 2012–June 2013), $830,000 was made available for youth tobacco prevention, down from an estimated $9 million in 2010-2011. With this funding, the TPCB gave a grant to the NC Association of Local Health Directors (LHD) to work in collaboration with ten regional tobacco use prevention and youth empowerment programs in regional health department coalitions.

Youth Tobacco Prevention Evaluation Final Report

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TRU Sustainability Policymaker Interviews Final Report 2012

Despite fiscal uncertainties at the state level, North Carolina’s tobacco prevention and cessation programs were prioritized by the Department of Public Health and continued in fiscal year 2011-2012, maintaining their strong track record of successes. While these programs have continued to reduce the health and financial costs of tobacco use to the state, future funding is uncertain. To promote sustainability of these critical public health programs, communication must be strengthened between program evaluators and key stakeholders, including policymakers in North Carolina with the ability to support continued funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs throughout the state.

To understand the motivations, priorities, and concerns of policymakers in North Carolina, interviews were conducted with Democratic and Republican former state legislators (including both former Senators and Representatives), and current lobbyists working for health-related organizations. Participants were asked open-ended questions about their prior knowledge of and attitudes towards tobacco prevention and cessation programs, as well as their views about state responsibility to fund such programs. Participants were also asked for their reactions to two policy briefs, one focused on how tobacco prevention and cessation programs save lives and the other focused on how these programs save dollars.

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Evaluation of State of Connecticut Tobacco Control Programs

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