Disseminating Tobacco Control Information to Asians and Pacific Islanders

The Asian Grocery Store-Based Cancer Education Program (the Program) is a proven strategy for promoting early breast cancer detection among Asian American women. The authors sought to test whether the same public health model can become an effective strategy for increasing the Asian community’s awareness of the California Smokers’ Helpline (the Helpline) and thereby, potentially decreasing this community’s use of tobacco products. The new module, mainly staffed by four well-trained, volunteer undergraduates, explained the risks of first- and second-hand tobacco exposure and how to access the Helpline’s services. A brochure, provided in English, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese (the Helpline’s available Asian languages), was used to guide the bicultural, bilingual students’ tobacco-related discussions with shoppers. The students’ repeated presence at the nine partnering Asian grocery stores served as reminders of the Helpline’s availability. In its first year of operation, the student trainers reached 1,052 men and 1,419 women with tobacco cessation messages. Equally important, the participating grocery stores’ managers did not object to students telling their customers to quit using the tobacco products sold in their stores. The results suggest that the Program’s tobacco cessation module is a viable, community-specific, public health strategy. It is also a strategy with the potential for applications to reduce other health threats.