Research studies have shown cigarette-smoking rates in middle-eastern adolescents to range from 33 to 58 percent.
The aims of this community-based, theory-driven research are (a) to examine cultural, personal, social, and environmental forces operating in at risk for habitual tobacco use Arab American youths and (b) to test the effects of a cessation intervention on smoking behavior at three, six, and twelve months post intervention. Cigarette smoking is the chief avoidable cause of death and disease in the United States and in Michigan. In 1996, 25.9 percent of the Michigan adult population smoked cigarettes; Michigan has the 10th highest smoking rate in the nation (Michigan Critical Health Indicators, 1996). Direct medical care costs attributable to smoking were nearly $940 million in 1994. Contributing to tobacco use statistics in Michigan is a rapidly growing Arab American immigrant population. The highest concentration of Arab Americans, with an estimated population of 300,000, live in Michigan; more than 36 percent were born outside the United States. Pilot data showed a 25 percent smoking rate in Arab American youths ages 14-18. Arab Americans are one of the fastest growing cultural minorities in the U.S. and the health consequences of continued tobacco use in this population in terms of human suffering from tobacco-related illnesses and health care dollars is potentially very high. The setting for this study is the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) Teen Health Center which services almost 2500 youth (visits each year). The majority of the people the clinic serves are poor, under-educated, live in extended families of 3-5 adults, are immigrants, and speak Arabic as a first language. A total of 2900 adolescents over 13 years will be asked to provide information on demographic and cultural variables, self-esteem, stress, family and peer tobacco use, intention to use tobacco, history of tobacco use, initial stage of change, and perceived health over three years. Youths with the highest risk for habitual tobacco use will be randomly assigned to Project Toward No Tobacco Use (Project TNT) intervention or Wait List Control. Further information will be obtained on stress, self-efficacy, barrier to cessation, and social support. A sample size of N=450 will be sought to test the study hypotheses. Project TNT was designed to target the primary causes of tobacco use among adolescents and has been shown to be effective in diverse cultural groups. It will be delivered in a small group basis by a bilingual health educator. An Arab American physician will provide the health education content. Follow up data will be collected at Sessions 1 & 4 and at 3, 6, and 12 months post-intervention. The hierarchical linear model, ordinal logistic regression and paired t-tests will be used to analyze the data.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD037498-04
Application #
6636984
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-SNEM-1 (01))
Program Officer
Haverkos, Lynne
Project Start
2000-05-01
Project End
2005-04-30
Budget Start
2003-05-01
Budget End
2004-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$352,989
Indirect Cost
Name
Wayne State University
Department
Type
Schools of Nursing
DUNS #
001962224
City
Detroit
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48202
Rice, Virginia Hill (2012) Water pipe smoking among the young: the rebirth of an old tradition. Nurs Clin North Am 47:141-8
Rice, Virginia H; Weglicki, Linda S; Templin, Thomas et al. (2010) Intervention effects on tobacco use in Arab and non-Arab American adolescents. Addict Behav 35:46-8
Weglicki, Linda S; Templin, Thomas N; Rice, Virginia Hill et al. (2008) Comparison of cigarette and water-pipe smoking by Arab and non-Arab-American youth. Am J Prev Med 35:334-9
Baker, Omar G; Rice, Virginia (2008) Predictors of narghile (water-pipe) smoking in a sample of American Arab Yemeni adolescents. J Transcult Nurs 19:24-32
Weglicki, Linda S; Templin, Thomas; Hammad, Adnan et al. (2007) Health issues in the Arab American community. Tobacco use patterns among high school students: do Arab American youth differ? Ethn Dis 17:S3-22-S3-24
Rice, Virginia Hill; Weglicki, Linda S; Templin, Thomas et al. (2006) Predictors of Arab American Adolescent Tobacco Use. Merrill Palmer Q (Wayne State Univ Press) 52:327-342
Al-Faouri, Ibrahim; Rice, Virginia Hill; Weglicki, Linda et al. (2005) Culturally sensitive smoking cessation intervention program redesign for Arab-American youth. Ethn Dis 15:S1-62-4
Templin, Thomas; Rice, Virginia Hill; Gadelrab, Hesham et al. (2005) Trends in tobacco use among Arab/Arab-American adolescents: preliminary findings. Ethn Dis 15:S1-65-8
Baker, Omar (2005) Relationship of parental tobacco use, peer influence, self-esteem, and tobacco use among Yemeni-American adolescents: mid-range theory testing. Ethn Dis 15:S1-69-71
Rice, Virginia Hill; Templin, Thomas; Weglicki, Linda et al. (2005) Predictors of tobacco use among Lebanese, Yemeni, and Iraqi adolescents, 14-18 years of age. Ethn Dis 15:S1-57-9

Showing the most recent 10 out of 11 publications