Tobacco-free Take Action!: Increasing Compliance on a College Campus

Audience: Over 500 colleges and universities have implemented tobacco-free campuses, thus those who have already initiated such policies as well as those who have an interest in adopting similar policies would benefit. Key Points: This presentation will describe an innovative ambassador program to increase compliance with a tobacco-free campus policy. The Tobacco-free Take Action! Ambassador program was implemented to create an environment of compliance with the help of students, faculty, and staff. Specific “hot spots” where policy violators congregated were targeted by the Ambassadors, who were trained to use scripted messages using a firm, yet compassionate approach. Ambassadors also completed an online documentation form assessing the number of violators observed, number of violators approached, how the violators responded, and action taken by the Ambassador. The Tobacco-free Compliance Assessment Tool was used to collect pre and post-cigarette butt data at each hot spot. The total number of cigarette butts declined by about 27% from pre-to post-program. Also, during the 4-week intervention period in which Ambassadors used scripting to approach violators, they were able to approach a total of 332 violators (of 529 observed), of which 67.8% responded positively and complied with the policy. Educational Experience: The audience will be introduced to the data collection methods and evaluation findings as well as examples of the approach used by the Ambassadors. Benefits: Compliance with tobacco-free policies is a challenge. Lessons learned from this innovative approach will benefit those with tobacco-free campus policies.