Review and needs assessment of materials designed to prevent tobacco use.

Over the past 25 years, numerous educational materials and strategies have been developed for the prevention and control of tobacco use. However, there has been no comprehensive assessment of the available materials designed to educate the public to avoid the use of tobacco. A search for materials and a review process was conducted in the fall of 1993, and a panel of experts reviewed the materials that were collected. In conducting the search, 240 persons and organizations associated with tobacco control efforts across the United States were contacted, and 207 materials were identified and evaluated. All materials were assessed by at least two members of the expert panel. Of the 207 items, 188 were found to be acceptable according to standardized review criteria. The authors drew conclusions about the current availability of tobacco use prevention materials and present recommendations for increasing the availability of materials to community-level and other control programs.