PROJECT TOWARD NO TOBACCO USE (PROJECT TNT)

Guide to Effective Programs
for Children and Youth

PROJECT TOWARD NO TOBACCO USE (PROJECT TNT)

OVERVIEW

Project Toward No Tobacco Use (Project TNT) is an intervention program designed to decrease tobacco use. The program consists of activities aimed at reducing the social influences of peer pressure and tobacco advertising, and at reducing incorrect information about the physical consequences of tobacco use. This three-pronged approach, and in particular the physical consequences curriculum, has been show to effectively reduce tobacco use by as much as half.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: 7th and 8th grade students

Project Toward No Tobacco Use (Project TNT) is a 10-day, classroom-based program implemented in the 7th grade and followed by two booster lessons in the subsequent year (Dent, et al., 1995; Sussman, et al., 1993). This intervention program includes activities to address three major targets: (1) normative social influence (peer pressure), (2) informational social influence (statements by one's peer group, parents, tobacco advertisements, or others that suggest that tobacco use is widespread or confers a positive social image), and (3) inaccurate or incomplete knowledge about the physical consequences of tobacco use.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Dent, C. W., Sussman, S., Stacy, A. W., Craig, S., Burton , D., & Flay, B. R. (1995). Two-year behavior outcomes of Project Towards No Tobacco Use. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63(4), 676-677.

Sussman, S., Dent, C. W., Stacy, A. W., Sun, P., Craig, S., Simon, T. R., et al. (1993). Project Towards No Tobacco Use: 1-year behavior outcomes. American Journal of Public Health, 83(9), 1245-1250.

Evaluated population: Seventh grade students in 48 California junior high schools

Approach: Seventh graders in 48 junior high schools in California were randomized, by school, to receive their standard curriculum or one of four intervention curriculums-one each to target normative social influence, informational social influence, and knowledge of physical consequences, and a combined curriculum designed to target all three components. The target population included both urban and rural populations, and, although the study was restricted to majority white school districts, there was some diversity of ethnic groups, as the 7th graders were 60% white, 27% Hispanic, 7% black, and 6% Asian or other.

Results: At one- and two-year follow-ups, participants in the full TNT program showed attenuations in weekly use of both cigarettes and smokeless tobacco relative to the controls, who received their usual health curriculum.

For example, between the 7th and 9th grades, the typical increase in the prevalence of weekly cigarette use with age was cut by more than half among TNT participants when compared with the controls. There was a 9 percentage-point increase among the controls, compared with an increase of just 4 percentage points among TNT participants. Notably, the physical consequences curriculum, more extensive than the traditional and ineffective information-based programs, was particularly successful in reducing use of smokeless tobacco.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

Link to program curriculum: http://pub.etr.org/SearchCategoryResult.aspx?ID=0&format=0&language=0&keyword=TNT&searchType=All%20Keywords

References:

Program also discussed in the following Child Trends publication(s):

Hatcher, J. L. & Scarpa, J. (2001). Background for community-level work on physical health and safety in adolescence: Reviewing the literature on contributing factors. Washington, DC, Child Trends.

Hatcher, J. L. & Scarpa, J. (2002). Encouraging teens to adopt a safe, healthy lifestyle: A foundation for improving future adult behaviors (Research brief). Washington , DC : Child Trends.

SUMMARY & CATEGORIZATION

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 7^th-graders / Program age ranges in the Guide: 12-14

Program components: school-based

Measured outcomes: behavioral problems