Department of Population Health, School of Medicine, University of Kansas, Kansas City, KS, United States.
University of Kansas Cancer Center, Kansas City, KS, United States.
Front Public Health. 2023 Jan 12;10:1057600. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1057600. eCollection 2022.
Schools remain at the frontlines of addressing issues, such as e-cigarette use, that impact students. Despite e-cigarette use remaining a significant public health concern in the U.S., schools have limited resources (e.g., staff, capacity, programming) to address it, especially in rural and frontier areas. This ECHO Pilot Project aimed to build capacity and equip schools and school staff in the state of Kansas to address high rates of youth e-cigarette use by providing prevention support and information on best practices for e-cigarette cessation.
The pilot used the established Project ECHO model to disseminate evidence-based strategies for e-cigarette prevention and cessation among youth to schools across Kansas. The pilot selected 20 interdisciplinary school teams representing both rural and urban middle and high schools across the state to participate in seven ECHO sessions. ECHO sessions proceeded throughout Fall 2021, with the final session in Spring 2022. School participants completed pre-post surveys as well as component-specific surveys following each ECHO session. In addition, each school team created an individualized action plan to comprehensively address e-cigarette use at their school based on the information provided throughout the ECHO. Survey data, school tobacco/nicotine policies, and action plans will be analyzed to assess process and final outcomes.
If successful, this pilot will demonstrate that the ECHO model is an effective platform for building school staff knowledge and skills to implement evidence-based strategies in both urban and rural settings. It is anticipated that the pilot will build capacity and equip schools and school staff to address high rates of youth e-cigarette use by providing support for school-based prevention programs and referrals for e-cigarette cessation which will lessen the burden of nicotine-related problems in Kansas schools and communities. Finally, the pilot will provide evidence that the ECHO model can be successfully and equitably applied in a school setting and may be a viable method for addressing other public health-related issues faced by schools.
学校仍然处于解决影响学生问题的前线，例如电子烟的使用。尽管电子烟的使用在美国仍然是一个重大的公共卫生问题，但学校的资源有限（例如，工作人员、能力、计划），尤其是在农村和边境地区，难以解决这个问题。本 ECHO 试点项目旨在通过提供预防支持和电子烟戒烟最佳实践的信息，为堪萨斯州的学校和学校工作人员提供能力建设，并解决青少年电子烟使用率高的问题。
该试点项目利用成熟的 ECHO 项目模型，向堪萨斯州的学校传播针对青少年电子烟预防和戒烟的循证策略。该试点项目选择了 20 个跨学科的学校团队，代表全州的农村和城市中学和高中，参加了七个 ECHO 会议。ECHO 会议在 2021 年秋季进行，最后一次会议在 2022 年春季进行。学校参与者在每次 ECHO 会议后完成了预后调查以及特定于组件的调查。此外，每个学校团队都根据整个 ECHO 提供的信息，制定了一份个性化的行动计划，以全面解决学校的电子烟使用问题。将分析调查数据、学校烟草/尼古丁政策和行动计划，以评估过程和最终结果。
如果成功，该试点项目将表明 ECHO 模式是一个有效的平台，可以提高学校工作人员的知识和技能，以便在城市和农村环境中实施基于证据的策略。预计该试点项目将通过提供学校预防计划的支持和电子烟戒烟的转介，为解决青少年电子烟使用率高的问题提供能力建设，并为堪萨斯州的学校和社区减轻尼古丁相关问题的负担。最后，该试点项目将提供证据表明，ECHO 模式可以在学校环境中成功且公平地应用，并且可能是解决学校面临的其他与公共卫生相关的问题的可行方法。
