Updates from the Sidekicks Program
|
|
Greetings Sidekicks Partners and Advisors,
Thank you for your continued commitment to this initiative!
|
|
Summer 2019 e-news Highlights
Webinar Recording Now Available
Youth Survey: Online Version
Resources Request
Summer Camp Promo Letter
Partner Training Highlights
Youth Feedback
State & National Resources:
ENDS Toolkit, infographics, Truth Initiative news
|
|
Sidekicks Program Overview: Webinar Recording Now Available
Based on training feedback, the Tobacco Prevention Services Team recorded the “Welcome & Overview” presentation of the Sidekicks training that was historically built into the in-person trainings. Our goal is to share this recording with anyone who is scheduled to be trained as a Master Trainer to introduce concepts and data
ahead of time
and free up some of the face to face time for more interactive exchanges. Anyone who registers and views this webinar will be asked to take a brief post-
survey to demonstrate that they understand the information provided in the recording.
|
|
Youth Training Manual Survey: Update
It
has been our guidance in the past that anyone facilitating a youth training, print out the post training survey (
pages 88-89
) ahead of time and have youth participants complete it at the end of their training. You will still have this option but based on DTPP feedback, we decided to make an online Google Form version of this survey available as well (for those youth with access to a computer and internet) and it can be found here:
Sidekicks Youth Training Survey (from manual)
.
- This link (and guidance) is available on the Sidekicks website (password protected).
- You will still need to allow time for youth to complete this form at the end of their training; it is not recommended that you provide youth with the link and assume that they will complete the survey at a later date.
- Once your SK participants have completed the Google Form surveys, please email the TPS Inbox to let us know that new information has been entered into Google Forms.
|
|
Sidekicks Resources: A Request!
We are compiling a listing of supplemental SK resources that DTPPs/Advisors have used in order to continue engagement with SK youth and advisors. Please share your innovative ideas with us via
TPS Inbox
by June 10th!
Some examples that we know of: Jenga, Jeopardy!, additional ‘Role Play’ scenarios, etc. We look forward to making a list of these resources for DTPPs and Sidekicks Advisors.
|
|
Promotion to Summer Camps/Programs
We asked the folks at Mid-Coast Hospital to share a recent post/email they drafted to local Youth Serving Entities (YSEs) promoting summer programming available from them (including their SNAP Ed). We thought it might be helpful to share sample language.
|
|
New Sidekicks Trainers at
Wabanaki Public Health!
In March staff from Wabanaki Public Health (WPH) became certified Master Trainers for the Sidekicks Program.
Commercial tobacco is the tobacco found in cigarettes, chew, snuff, e-cigs, and contains over 7,000 chemicals and cancer causing agents. Vaping rates are going up among school kids in Maine. In 2017, 15.3% of youth said they use e-cigs also called vaping. It is key that kids have the courage to talk to a friend who might have a vaping or smoking habit. SideKicks gives kids the tools and skills to have a talk with other kids about things like stress and peer pressure that might cause them to smoke or vape.
|
|
Sidekicks Youth Feedback
Across the State from October 1, 2018 to May 31, 2109, 28 Sidekicks trainings have been held and a total of 622 7th-12th graders have been trained. Each newly-trained Sidekick anonymously completes a training evaluation to assess their perception of the program and their readiness to be a Sidekick. In the past 8 months, we've heard from 417 youth and we wanted to share some of the feedback we've received. This feedback continues to inform the work CTI and DTPPs do on behalf of the Sidekicks program.
|
|
About the ENDS Toolkit
The Tobacco and Substance Use Prevention and Control Program (TSUPC) developed this toolkit to provide a consolidated resource of evidence-based electronic nicotine delivery systems
(ENDS) information to help educate the public. Information about ENDS is constantly emerging and we will work to update this toolkit as additional information is published. While this document can be printed, the optimal utility of this toolkit will be on one’s computer. Hyperlinks to further information have been embedded throughout the document and can be identified as the blue, underlined words. A list of the references that support the content are provided on pages 13-14.
How we talk about ENDS
Many terms are used to describe ENDS including vapes (vaping), vaporizers, vape pens, hookah pens, electronic cigarettes, e-cigarettes, electronic smoking devices, tank systems, mods, electronic vapor products, and e-pipes. Some people refer to ENDS by the brand such as JUUL or JUUL-ing. This document will use “ENDS” to refer to all of these products. It’s important to note that these products do not contain or create vapor at all, so the term “vaping” is misleading. The emission from ENDS is an aerosol, which is a suspension of fine particles in a gas.
|
|
If you have any questions about these or other resources listed on the Sidekicks or Center for Tobacco Independence websites, please
email us
!
(Truth Initiative, May 21, 2019)
"Almost half of individual users following JUUL’s official Twitter account (
@JUULvapor
) are underage, according to a new research study, despite the company’s previous claim that it has only marketed its products to adult smokers.
"The
study, published in JAMA Pediatrics
, analyzed data collected from all public active profiles following JUUL’s Twitter account in April 2018. Out of the 9,077 active individual followers, researchers estimated that 80.6% were aged 13-20 and 19.4% were aged 21 and older. The estimates show that the majority of people following JUUL’s Twitter account were younger than the legal age to buy e-cigarettes and “likely exposed to JUUL’s social media marketing practices.”"
(Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science, April 16, 2019)
Amanda L. Graham, PhD '99, MS '95, is in the vanguard of researchers who are taking on the e-cigarette epidemic, the latest front in the battle for tobacco control.
"Dr. Graham is senior vice president of the Innovations Center at Truth Initiative in Washington, DC, the largest nonprofit public health organization in the United States dedicated to tobacco control. In early 2019, Dr. Graham and her team launched
This is Quitting
,
a text message program for young people who want to quit vaping.
Created with input from teens and young adults, the program delivers proactive prompts tailored by age group, including customized support and information on quitting. It also serves as a resource for parents, more than 3,000 of whom enrolled after the platform was featured by NBC's "Today" show on Jan. 18.
|
|
Truth Initiative empowers and enables young people to be change-makers in their communities — but we know not everyone who has the power to make change has the resources. The truth Impact Scholarship is awarding one $10,000 and one $5,000 scholarship to two people as a kickstart toward shaping their futures and reaching their goals.Impact Scholarship winners will work with truth to inspire others to take action and be part of our movement of ending tobacco use for good.
|
|
Sidekicks is an initiative of the MaineHealth Center for Tobacco Independence implemented with funding from Maine Prevention Services, Maine CDC, DHHS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
