title: Providing smoking cessation programs to homeless youth: the perspective of service providers.
abstract: There is almost no information available on cigarette smoking among homeless youth, whether they are currently receiving services for smoking cessation, and how to best help them quit. This paper presents data collected from a series of semi-structured telephone interviews with service providers from 23 shelters and drop-in centers serving homeless youth in Los Angeles County about their current smoking cessation programming, interest in providing smoking cessation services to their clients, potential barriers to providing this service, and ways to overcome these barriers. Results indicated that 84% of facilities did not offer smoking cessation services, although nearly all (91%) were interested in doing so. Barriers to implementing formal smoking cessation programs on site included lack of resources (e.g., money, personnel) to support the programs, staff training, and concern that smoking cessation may not be a high priority for homeless youth themselves. Overall, service providers seemed to prefer a less intensive smoking cessation program that could be delivered at their site by existing staff. Data from this formative needs assessment will be useful for developing and evaluating a smoking cessation treatment that could be integrated into the busy, complex environment that characterizes agencies that serve homeless youth.
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation. Electronic address: shadel@rand.org.
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Shadel
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation.
authors.forename: Joan S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation.
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mullins
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation.
authors.forename: Lynette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Staplefoote
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D018453:Homeless Youth; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescent; Homeless; Service provider; Smoking cessation