This project is being conducted with funding from the American Legacy Foundation (ALF) as a collaborative effort with the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program (TUPAC) and other organizations involved in youth-oriented tobacco control efforts. The initial goal was to evaluate a new statewide tobacco youth advocacy coalition, by assessing key youth tobacco prevention strategies in New Mexico through participatory research methods. The focus is to document how New Mexico youth enact empowerment programs, to examine the contributions such youth empowerment programs make to tobacco prevention and control in the state, and determine what “youth empowerment” means in the context of state tobacco control strategies. In 2002-03, the project is exploring the possibility of integrating a “youth evaluation team” into the research methodology, to train youth and thereby involve them in specific action research activities.

A participatory evaluation advisory committee was established with representatives from the partner agencies and organizations, and youth. This committee served as a collaborative forum to assist in developing the conceptual framework to organize project evaluation activities, including the proposed evaluation questions, methods and procedures. Various local youth advocacy coalitions were evaluated and compared for effectiveness in training their advocates, and the extent to which program planning and implementation of activities were youth led and youth conducted. YTEP also evaluated the planning and implementation of the annual New Mexico Youth Power Conference Tobacco Track, as well as its after-event impact.

YTEP is also responsible for evaluating the level of dissemination of findings and lessons learned. In this regard, the findings of YTEP are shared widely, not only with sponsoring agencies and partner organizations, but also with the Centers for Disease Control Office on Smoking and Health, with other Prevention Research Centers, and in articles in journals and at professional conferences. These have included a poster presentation at the annual American Public Health Association meeting, and a paper presented at the National Conference on Tobacco or Health.

For further information, please contact Eric Chrisp, at (505) 272-4462 or echrisp@salud.unm.edu.

For more information about this project, contact the Women Change/ENDOW Project staff can be contacted in New Mexico at (505) 272-9962 or by e-mail at cherman@salud.unm.edu.