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Session Title: Constraints and Promising Practices in Evaluating Social Norm Change: Lessons Learned From Tobacco Control
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Panel Session 751 to be held in Washington Room on Saturday, November 10, 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM
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Sponsored by the Health Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Jenica Huddleston,
University of California, Davis,
jhuddleston@ucdavis.edu
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| Discussant(s):
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| Robert LaChausse,
California State University, San Bernardino,
rlachaus@csusb.edu
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| Abstract:
Evaluating social norm change is challenging, with little comprehensive data collected and long time-lags before data is available. Using the context of tobacco control, this panel will identify challenges to evaluating social norm change and provide some specific approaches to address these challenges. The panel draws on several perspectives. An overview of California's approach to social norm change, including the role of the statewide Evaluation Center and the resources developed by this Center to assist evaluation at the local level, will be provided. A project conducting tobacco control work at a local level within California will then discuss local issues in evaluating social norm change. A third perspective will be provided by researchers who are evaluating social norm change at a national level. To conclude the session, a discussant will identify lessons learned across the panel presentations and raise ongoing issues that still need to be addressed in the future.
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California's Approach to Evaluating Social Norm Change in Tobacco Control
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| Leslie Cooksy,
University of California, Davis,
ljcooksy@ucdavis.edu
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| Jenica Huddleston,
University of California, Davis,
jhuddleston@ucdavis.edu
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| Julie Elmen,
University of California, Davis,
jdelmen@ucdavis.edu
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| Jean Lamming,
University of California, Davis,
jlamming@ucdavis.edu
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| Jeanette Treiber,
University of California, Davis,
jtreiber@ucdavis.edu
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| Maria Tuccori,
University of California, Davis,
mttuccori@ucdavis.edu
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California's Tobacco Control Program, which started in 1990, is an established social norm change program. It seeks to 'indirectly influenc[e] current and potential future tobacco users by creating a social milieu and legal climate in which tobacco becomes less desirable, less acceptable, and less accessible' (California Department of Health Services, 1998). To evaluate its tobacco control interventions the California program uses a combination of logic modeling, recording of outputs (e.g., local policies passed), local level evaluation, and state-wide surveillance data. The presentation about California's approach to evaluating social norm change will describe the strengths and weaknesses of this approach, providing some tools that other public and nonprofit agencies could adopt.
Reference:
California Department of Health Services. 1998. A Model of Change: The California Experience in Tobacco Control. Sacramento, CA: California Department of Health Services.
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Evaluating Social Norm Change at the Local Level: Sacramento County's Tobacco Control Work
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| Jenica Huddleston,
University of California, Davis,
jhuddleston@ucdavis.edu
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| Carlene Henriques,
Sacramento County Dept of Health Services,
henriques@saccounty.net
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| Kristina Clinton,
Sacramento County Dept of Health Services,
clintonk@saccounty.net
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| Megan Trautman,
Sacramento County Dept of Health Services,
trautmanm@saccounty.net
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Sacramento County will share a local perspective on evaluating social norm change in their tobacco control work. Two 'hot' topics within the field will be emphasized-- smoke-free multi-unit housing and tobacco retail licensing. Assessing norm change can be difficult at the local level with time and budgetary constraints. While the state funding agency focuses on impacting norm change through enacting policies, there is often only enough time available to the local project, and data collected, to convince decision-makers to adopt policies, not to assess the longer-term or larger picture of the impact these policies have on norms within the community. During the last three-year funding cycle (2004-2007), and in the current funding cycle (2007-2010), this project has worked on the two topics identified above. Changes in evaluating these topics from one cycle to another will be addressed.
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Social Climate Analysis as a Tool to Measure and Monitor the Social Penetration of Tobacco Control.
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| Robert McMillen,
Mississippi State University,
robert.mcmillen@ssrc.msstate.edu
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| Nell Valentine,
Mississippi State University,
nell.valentine@ssrc.msstate.edu
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State and national tobacco control programs have targeted political and social intermediate objectives. To facilitate planning and evaluation, the Social Climate Survey of Tobacco Control (SCS-TC) provides timely, comprehensive data about the attitudes and practices of U.S. adults. The SCS-TC includes items to measure progress toward intermediate objectives such as policy changes, changes in social norms, reductions in exposure of individuals to environmental tobacco smoke, and rejection of pro-tobacco influences. Seven annual cross-sectional household telephone surveys of national probability samples of US adults were conducted in the summers of 2000 to 2006. Completion rates for eligible respondents contacted ranged from 75% in 2000 to 87% in 2006. Most measured indicators improved between 2000 to 2006, although not for all populations. Fewer people who live in rural areas, people with lower levels of education, and residents of the South Census Region endorsed many of the social climate indicators.
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