Researchers strive to reach adolescent smokers: some programs combine prevention and cessation; others target reduced smoking instead of quitting.(Clinical Rounds)

ORLANDO -- Adolescent smokers are a difficult population to reach, but researchers are trying some novel approaches to combat smoking in that group including smoking reduction instead of cessation, and financial incentives.

"To date the field has been frustrated by relatively low success rates," Robin Mermelstein, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois at Chicago, said at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. With adolescents, researchers need to consider innovative approaches and target programs where the teens are--in schools, she said.

Some researchers are aiming to do just that. For example, Ping Sun, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues are examining the combination of a cessation and prevention curriculum in a single school-based program. In a recent study, Dr. Sun modified the existing Project EX program for application in the classroom.

The program targets at-risk, high school students in California and includes eight learning sessions over a 6-week period. The classroom sessions cover the effects of tobacco on lifestyle, the health impact of tobacco use, and how to avoid smoking relapses. The intervention also includes unique aspects such as a mock talk show, yoga, and meditation.

More than 1,000 students were randomly assigned to either the cessation and prevention program or standard care, which is whatever curriculum would normally be taught in the students' health class.

Preliminary results show that the effects of the intervention on knowledge, weekly smoking, and daily smoking were all favorable, Dr. Sun said. A post-test survey also showed that most students liked the program and especially enjoyed the meditation component, he said.

These preliminary findings illustrate that it is possible to combine prevention and cessation in a single classroom program and that the approach works equally well for smokers and nonsmokers, Dr. Sun said.