Tobacco-free Take Action!: Increasing Policy Adherence on a College Campus.
BACKGROUND
One in five college students report tobacco use, thus universities are making strides to reduce tobacco use by adopting smoke- or tobacco-free policies.


OBJECTIVE
Describe an innovative ambassador program to increase adherence with a tobacco-free campus policy.


METHODS
The Tobacco-Free Take Action! (TFTA!) Ambassador program was created to form an environment of compliance. Hot spots were targeted by Ambassadors, who were trained to use scripted messages. Ambassadors completed an online documentation form to assess the number of violators observed and approached. The Tobacco-Free Compliance Assessment Tool (TF-CAT) was used to collect pre- and post-cigarette butt data at each hot spot.


RESULTS
During the 4-week intervention period, Ambassadors approached 332 violators (529 observed), of which 68% responded positively and complied with the policy. The number of cigarette butts declined by 25%.


CONCLUSIONS
Adherence with campus tobacco-free policies remains a challenge. Lessons learned from this innovative approach will benefit those currently implementing and planning tobacco-free campus policies.
Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion at the University of Kentucky. She is Director of University of Kentucky's Tobacco-free Take Action!
Melinda J
MJ
Ickes
Ellen J
EJ
Hahn
Melissa
M
McCann
Sarah
S
Kercsmar
campus; college; compliance; policy; tobacco-free; university