Oklahoma’s Youth-Driven Tobacco Policy Campaigns Assessment of Impacts and Lessons Learned

BackgroundYouth engagement is an important component of comprehensive tobacco control programs. Oklahoma has dozens of Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) teams throughout the state. Traditionally, SWAT has focused more on community and peer education than policy initiatives. To systematically engage SWAT members in high-impact policy work, Oklahoma launched new training materials and policy-focused campaigns in October 2011.PurposeTo examine initial campaign implementation and impact, including outcomes and lessons learned.MethodsYouth baseline and post-campaign survey data and program coordinator post-campaign survey data were collected in 2011–2012 and analyzed in 2013. Chi-square analyses and t tests were used to identify differences in youths’ attitudes, self-efficacy, and activism behavior. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis of coordinator survey data were used to identify barriers to campaign implementation. Copies of passed policies were collected.ResultsYouths’ tobacco-related attitudes (p