My grant proposal focused on e-cigarette addiction for adolescents within the Alachua County region in Florida. Recently there was a Alachua law change on cigarettes being sold only to people ages 21 and older (Sexton, 2014). However, there is a rise for e-cigarette use in adolescents ages 18 and under (Ikonomidis et.al, 2018). In fact, in 2018 alone, there were 24.8% of high schools students who use electronic vapor products at least once per day in a month (True Initiative, 2018). To address these needs, this intervention will focus on e-cigarette usage of teenagers with high ACEs scores and how to combat it in a trauma-resilience informed manner. The program will focus on identifying those who have high ACEs scores, help them receive mental counseling, and involve authorities for support. It will also prioritize letting the power of the students’ voices be heard on their own way to heal themselves. Lastly, it aims to educate all members on ACES so that the intervention could continue after the grant ends.
SAMHSA’s trauma-informed guide will be used as a framework (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014). There are 6 total guiding principles for the trauma-informed guide and 4 of them were used for this one. The first principle would be the collaboration and mutuality. The team needs to make sure there is sharing of power in decision-making particularly between the school staff and the students involved. The second principle would be cultural, historical, and gender issues. The team and the staff involved would need to move past any stereotypes and place healing of traditional cultural connections, school policies, and cultural needs. Thirdly, there is a need for trustworthiness and transparency. The team will need to be very transparent about where the program/intervention is run and how it would impact the students especially if their parents could be involved. It is very important for students to know that their privacy is safe with them especially coming from trauma-involved family situations. Lastly, there needs to be peer support from the fellow students who are involved in the intervention. Throughout these experiences, “peers” of trauma experience will need support from one another. There also needs to be key support from caregivers such as the counselors, teachers, and parents (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014).
This intervention utilizes a public health framework for adolescents and teenagers. The project will focus on primary prevention, which means that we would prevent the disease or injury before the e-cigarettes become an addiction for the adolescents/students of the schools. Based on the Trauma guide of Philanthropy, this would entail parents and teachers to be informed on how to provide better support for the adolescents so addiction does not occur in the first place (Feurer-Edwards et. al, n.d.). The program activities will work on preventing the development of using e-cigarettes as a coping mechanism (Feurer-Edwards et. al, n.d.). If any students are already addicted, we would need to focus on secondary or even tertiary prevention which is making sure the students could make behavior changes to recover from addiction (Feurer-Edwards et. al, n.d.).
The CDC Model of Social and Ecological Model will serve as a framework for the intervention. The intervention begins with the relationship between the counselors, teachers, and parents with the students. This involves the relationship aspect of the CDC model. It will be needed for the intervention to work effectively for students to be open and transparent about their e-cigarette usage and receive help from the team. This intervention will go towards the community of the school that seeks to identify the characteristics of e-cigarette users in a school setting, which may be different from other users outside the school setting. Lastly, the societal aspects of the intervention will be vital. What makes a student feel pressured to use the e-cigarette and ‘juuling’ compared to an adult who is allowed to use it? What makes a student feel empowered by to use the e-cigarette? It is important to get these questions answered for the team to make the most effective intervention (CDC Social & Ecological Model, 2020).
Citations:
CDC (2020). The Social & Ecological Model: A Framework for Prevention. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention CDC. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violencepr...ecologicalmodel.html
Feurer-Edwards, A., O’Brien, C., O’Connor, S. (N.D.) Trauma-Informed Philanthropy [PDF file]. Philanthropy Network. ScatterGood Foundation. Print.
Ikonomidis, I., Vlastos, D., Kourea, K., Kostelli, G., Varoudi, M., Pavlidis, G., & Iliodromitis, E. (2018). Electronic cigarette smoking increases arterial stiffness and oxidative stress to a lesser extent than a single conventional cigarette: an acute and chronic study. Circulation, 137(3), 303-306.
Sexton, M. (2014, Oct. 14). Alachua County’s Tobacco Minimum Legal Sales Age 21 Ordinance. Alachua County.us. Retrieved from https://alachuacounty.us/news/...ge-21-Ordinance.aspx.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Print [PDF].
Truth Initiative. (2019). Tobacco Use in Florida 2019. Truth Initiative Fact Sheets. Retrieved from https://truthinitiative.org/re...cco-use-florida-2019.
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