Needs assessment in Asian American community regarding participation in tobacco prevention efforts Manoj Sharma, MBBS, Ph.D. University of Cincinnati & Richard Stacy, MPH, Ed.D. University of Nebraska at Omaha

Background z2002, the "Douglas County Outreach to Ethnic Minorities Project" was funded by the state of Nebraska under the Tobacco Free Nebraska (TFN) Program to engage ethnic minorities in the Douglas County zOne of the mandates of the project was to conduct an Asian community needs assessment survey with regard to attitudes pertaining to participation in tobacco prevention efforts by the members of this ethnic minority group

Instrumentation Process zIn a two-round process a practical, simple, and brief survey instrument was developed zTeam for face and content validation of the instrument included two staff members from Charles Drew Health Center (CDHC) and two consultants on the project who were also University professors zPermission to conduct the survey was obtained from the Director of Charles Drew Health Center

Instrument zFirst 5 questions elicited the rating on the importance of y(1) parental action for prevention of tobacco use, y(2) community action for prevention of tobacco use y(3) parental action to make homes smoke free y(4) parental action to make their vehicles smoke free y(5) involvement of children/youth for prevention of tobacco use. zThe next set of questions were designed to elicit information about perceived influence by community members on children/youth regarding five possible sources, namely, y(1) advertisement of tobacco products y(2) placement of tobacco products y(3) smoking by adults in public places y(4) smoking by adults in restaurants y(5) smoking by adults on school property. zThe next two questions asked about the extent of current involvement with community projects and community coalitions aimed at preventing children/youth from using tobacco zThe next set of questions were aimed at eliciting response regarding possible interest in selected activities, namely, their participation in community projects and coalitions for preventing children/youth from using tobacco, and involvement of their children/youth in such projects zThe next section was about their using cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and perceptions about their child smoking cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. zFinal section was the demographic data

Data Collection & Analyses zSince a listing of Asian community members in Douglas County is not available and the number is also small it was envisaged that using a fixed quota sample would be collecting information from at least 200 respondents zOwing to practical constraints she was able to collect information from only 41 respondents zAll collected questionnaires were arranged and coded, data entered and analyzed in SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), Version 10.0

Distribution of Demographic Variables zLargest number of respondents were from Japanese origin (37.5%) with representation from the Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Nepalese, and Thai communities zGender was equally distributed

Distribution of Needs Assessment Variables zRegarding perceived importance of parents taking action in preventing their children/ youth from using tobacco none of the respondents felt that parental action is not at all important zHowever, a majority (58.5%) felt that this role was slightly or moderately important. zThis indicates that educational programs can make some difference by improving perceived parental responsibility in reducing tobacco use by children/youth.

Importance of making homes tobacco free zMajority (58.5%) of the respondents felt that making their homes tobacco free for their children/ youth was not at all important, only slightly important, or moderately important zThis clearly indicates a deficit in the perceived importance regarding this important piece for reducing the harmful effects of secondhand smoke on children zThis gap can be easily bridged by targeted educational efforts for this subsection of the community.

Importance of making vehicles tobacco free zMajority (85.4%) of the respondents felt that making their vehicles tobacco free for their children/ youth was not at all important, only slightly important, or only moderately important zThis clearly indicates a deficit in the perceived importance regarding this important piece for reducing the harmful effects of secondhand smoke on children zThis gap can be easily bridged by targeted educational efforts for this subsection of the community.

Importance of children/youth getting involved in projects zOnly 36.4% rated this aspect as very important or extremely important zThis indicates that majority were not convinced that getting children/youth involved in projects is going to be very useful

Influence of tobacco product advertisements zNone of the respondents thought that advertisements played very little or little influence zMajority of the respondents were convinced of the role played by advertisements zPrevious educational efforts seemed to have done an excellent job in this regard and there is no need to further substantiate this message

Placement of tobacco products in stores zRegarding perceived influence by community members on tobacco use by children/youth regarding the way tobacco products are placed in stores an overwhelming majority (97.6%) of the respondents were convinced of the deleterious role of tobacco product placement in stores zNo need for current educational efforts to tailor messages in this regard for this subsection of the community

Influence of smoking by adults in public places zDistribution on perceived influence by community members on children/youth regarding the smoking by adults in public places was in the middle of the range zEducational messages that increase outcry on this issue are needed that will decrease acceptance of the behavior of public smoking by adults.

Community Involvement zDisheartening to note that an overwhelming majority (more than 95%) of this subsection has not been involved in tobacco prevention efforts zFuture outreach efforts in involving the under- involved ethnic minorities must be undertaken with greater enthusiasm

Interest in Involvement zAt least two third (68.3%) of the people from this section of the minority community are at least somewhat or a lot interested in getting involved zThe gap between actual involvement and this interest clearly needs bridging by involving more Asians in efforts for planning, implementing, and evaluating tobacco prevention efforts.

Distribution of smoking related behaviors zRegarding smoking cigarettes, about 28 percent of the respondents reported smoking cigarettes, which is higher than the overall smoking rates in Douglas County, Nebraska and the nation zReinforces the need for concerted tobacco prevention efforts for this subsection of the community