title: Culturally-specific smoking cessation outreach in a rural community.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death, resulting in 443,000 US deaths per year. Rural adults have higher smoking prevalence and less access to tobacco dependence treatment than their urban counterparts. This study examined exposure to a culturally specific smoking cessation outreach intervention, assessing whether exposure was associated with cessation behaviors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Post-test only quasi-experimental study. Targeted adult smokers (N = 251) living in a rural, economically distressed southeastern US county for at least 6 months.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five outreach elements (brochures/pushcards, posters, print and radio advertisements, quilt made by local artisans) based on themes from focus groups with current and former smokers and paired with brief tobacco cessation counseling, and were delivered over 6 months in 2009-2010. Exposure and cessation behavior indicators were collected via cross-sectional random-digit dial survey. The total intervention exposure score was 4.8 (SD = 4.3, range 0-19).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intervention exposure was associated with having talked to a health care provider about quitting smoking in the past 6 months and planning to quit smoking in the next 6 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Culturally specific outreach materials based on personal narratives are a promising population-based intervention to motivate rural smokers to consider cessation.
authors.affiliation: Tobacco Policy Research Program, College of Nursing, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.
authors.forename: Karen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.forename: Mary Kay
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Rayens
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adkins
authors.forename: Rachael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Record
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Langley
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Derifield
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McGinn
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Ellen J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Hahn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003376:Counseling; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: public health; rural health; smoking cessation; story telling