The Arizona CHAMPS Peer Project for Tobacco Use Prevention - Effects on Tobacco Use, Intentions to Use, and Knowledge

Oct 15, 2026

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Study evaluating CHAMPS, a peer-led youth tobacco education and prevention intervention. Nineteen schools in grades 5–7 implemented CHAMPS, while six schools served as nonintervention comparison sites. Baseline and follow-up questionnaires from 1,412 students showed significantly reduced current cigarette use in the intervention group, with no significant change in comparisons. Knowledge of tobacco harms increased significantly for CHAMPS participants, while comparison knowledge remained stable; willingness to smoke if offered by a best friend rose in the comparison group only.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Peer-led tobacco education program

Study design and participants

Outcomes: cigarette use, knowledge, and intentions

Rationale for school-based and peer-based prevention

Coontinuing Education The Arizona CHAMPS Peer Project for Tobacco Use Prevention: Effects on Tobacco Use, Intentions to Use, and Knowledge John Sciacca, Howard Eng, James Mahrt, and Kate Dorsey ABSTRACT This study reports on CHAMPS, a youth tobacco education and prevention program intervention that focused on peer-led educational activities. Nineteen schools implemented a CHAMPS tobacco prevention program in grades 5, 6, and 7. Six schools served as nonintervention comparison sites. Baseline and follow-up questionnaires were completed by 1,412 students. The proportion of students reporting current cigarette use decreased significantly in the CHAMPS group but not in the comparison group. Intervention group students’ knowledge about the harmful consequences of tobacco use increased significantly, whereas knowledge essentially stayed the same among comparison group students. Finally, the number of nonsmoking students who reported they would smoke a cigarette if one of their best friends offered it increased significantly in the comparison group but not in the intervention group. These results suggest that a well-planned and implemented peer-helping program represents an important potential resource that should be considered as a welcome adjunct to existing school-based tobacco education and prevention efforts. Because almost all adult cigarette smokers started smoking as adolescents (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 1999), the schools are a logical place for tobacco prevention activities. Advantages of providing tobacco prevention efforts atthe school site include convenient access to, and the potential to impact, a large proportion of young people; opportunities to expose youths to environments and norms that support tobacco-free lifestyles; and the potential to impact youths at an age when many experiment with tobacco and may develop habits that endure through- out their lives. The U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that school-based prevention programs that teach young people how to resist social influences to smoke and that teach skills to resist peer pressure to smoke can be especially effective in reducing tobacco initiation among adolescents (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1994, 2000) . Peer tobacco education is the teaching or sharing of tobacco prevention information, values, behaviors, and skills by members of similar age or status groups (Sciacca & Valenari, 1998). Student peer helpers are John Sciacca, MPH, PHD, is professor and chair of the Department of Health Promotion at Northern Arizona University, Box 15095, Flagstaff, AZ 86011; E-mail: John.Sciacca@ [nau.edu. Howard Eng is with the Border Rural](nau.edu. Howard Eng is with the Border Rural)[ ](nau.edu. Howard Eng is with the Border Rural)Health Research Center at the University of Arizona, Tucson. James Mahrt and Kate Dorsey are with the Arizona Prevention Resource Center at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. This project was funded by the Arizona Department of Health Services, Tobacco Education and Prevention Program. 250 American Journal of Health Education—September/October 2003, Volume 34, No. 5 John Sciacca, Howard Eng, James Mahrt, and Kate Dorsey young people who are trained and supervised by professionals to provide services in such capacities as peer role models and educators. Such peer educators are not intended to replace adult health educators but rather to extend the services provided by these professionals. The rationale for using students to enhance existing tobacco education programs is based on the following suppositions. Tobacco use usually begins at an early age. A National Institute on Drug Abuse national survey (1993) found that 18% of surveyed U.S. high school seniors reported smoking their first cigarette in elementary school, and 30% started smoking in grades 7 through 9. Valois and colleagues (1998) found that among 374 rural fifth grade students, 26% of the males and 16% o

FAQs

What does CHAMPS focus on?

CHAMPS is a youth tobacco education and prevention program intervention centered on peer-led educational activities.

How was the study structured across schools?

Nineteen schools implemented CHAMPS in grades 5–7, while six schools acted as nonintervention comparison sites with baseline and follow-up questionnaires.

What outcomes changed in the CHAMPS group compared with the comparison group?

Current cigarette use decreased significantly only in the CHAMPS group; tobacco-harm knowledge increased significantly in CHAMPS participants, while comparison knowledge stayed essentially unchanged. The comparison group also showed a significant increase in students reporting they would smoke if offered by a best friend.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Grenda