Smoking -- is it still a problem?

Health Literacy Colleagues,

Is smoking still a problem in your community? Do your adult literacy/ABE/ASE/ELL students smoke? More or less than the general population? What U.S. populations are being targeted by cigarette companies? Are they patients in your health clinic? In your basic education classes? Do they know they are being targeted? If these questions interest you take a look at this article http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/07/31/336386346/amid-smoking-decline-look-whos-still-lighting-up?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140803&utm_campaign=mostemailed&utm_term=nprnews

Is smoking a topic in your health literacy curriculum?

Do you/do your students track changes in smoking behaviors among students?

Have your students who smoke done a math lesson in which they calculate their annual financial savings if they could stop smoking? Have they thought about how they would use the savings?

Does your adult basic education/ELL program partner with a local health clinic so that students can benefit from programs to help them, and their family members and friends, stop smoking?

It would be great to hear your answers to some of these questions!

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

 

 

Comments

Good question, David!

In general, the statistics in the article suggest that adult learners may be more prone to smoking that others since smoking prevalence goes up as educational attainment goes down. The highest prevalence was for GED holders: 42%. Some of my colleagues found that young people in ABE and GED prep classes in New Hampshire had higher rates of smoking and lower knowledge about the risks than the general population. They developed a curriculum, The Tobacco and Literacy Education Project, that addresses this knowledge gap. And yes, it does have a math lesson where you calculate the costs you could save over time! 

The Tobacco and Literacy Education Project

Three health literacy lessons designed for ABE/GED instruction provide compelling information about the hazards of tobacco use while teaching basic literacy skills. Each lesson comes complete with lesson overview, multiple learning activities, teacher notes, and answer keys. 

Heres' another resource that gives the basic facts about smoking and its risks:

MedlinePlus Tutorial: Smoking -The Facts

See more information about the MedlinePlus Tutorials in this discussion:  MedlinePlus - Online Health Tutorials

Julie and others,

Thanks, Julie. These look to be very useful curriculum resources. I wonder if any teachers here have used them, or would consider using them. If so, how did you/would you integrate these topics in your curriculum? 

The other day I was parked across the street from a pub, on a Sunday afternoon, and noticed that the only people outside smoking were young white women. My wife commented that she has observed this as a pattern -- the data that suggests that adult women smoke less than adult men doesn't capture this phenomenon.  Anyone have data on young people, especially young women, and smoking?

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

I don't know about young women and smoking but I will put my feelers out!

The prevalence of young people smoking is often attributed to marketing directed at young people. So another question for those of you who teach young adults: Do you ever address media and marketing with your students? This could be a motivating and relevant way to address comprehension and critical thinking using authentic materials.

Another observation: There were a few things that I didn't expect in the results from the article. One thing that struck me was that this is the first data I have seen for a long time that shows an adverse health behavior more prevalent in Whites than in Blacks and Hispanics. (There is much evidence that shows health disparities which put these two groups at a disadvantage, and many proposed reasons for it. That's an interesting discussion in itself!)

Thank you for these resources, Julie. I plan to share them with our staff when they return. The numbers generated in the math lessons are startling to me (a non-smoker) as I am pretty sure the current cost per pack/carton is much higher than the examples given.

 

I have not specifically paid attention to the gender or ethnicity of those I see smoking in our community. That would make an interesting informal survey. Thanks for the food for thought as well.

Leslie

Leslie,

I love your idea of having students do an informal survey of who they see smoking in their community by age and gender. Each student could agree to observe in a place where they know people typically smoke (outside a large office building, pub/bar, etc.) at a time when people typically smoke. They could have a standard tally sheet that they develop for this purpose where they record the name of the place they observe (and type, such as workplace, restaurant, etc.) date, and time, total number of people observed, and a breakdown by estimated age range (e.g. under 20, 21-40, 41-60, older) and gender. The data could then be entered into a spreadsheet that has an automatic graphing program, so this could be a community service, health, and numeracy lesson.

The survey results could be presented to a community health center, to community groups working with teens, etc.

I wonder if anyone here has done a survey like this with their students.

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

These are all great ideas, David. Experiential learning at its best for data gathering and interpretation!

Julie, I will definitely post should staff decide to use the materials. To me, this would be an easy topic that would immediately engage people since we all know people who smoke or have in the past.

Anecdotally, I was at a free community concert last night and it was young white women who were smoking even in defiance of the no smoking signs posted in the park.

Leslie