Tobacco Control Research
Tobacco Policy Research Group
The Tobacco Policy Research Group is headed by Jean Forster. The group conducts research projects involving policies to reduce tobacco use by young people.
The research serves to monitor use, assess trends and the need for future intervention, promote local policy enforcing age of sale laws and limiting exposure to second-hand smoke in public places. It includes a participatory action research project with the Native American population in Minneapolis. Read more
Questions?
Contact Dr. Jean Forster
Tobacco Timeline
Minneapolis and St. Paul enacted the first state legislation to earmark a portion of the state cigarette excise tax to support smoking prevention programs.
View a chronology of significant national developments related to smoking and health.
The Tobacco TimeLine follows tobacco from discovery to the 21st century.
Smoking has long been identified as the nation’s number one health problem. Approximately 440,000 deaths a year are linked to tobacco. For decades, researchers have been looking for ways to reduce smoking-related deaths and disabilities. Researchers, staff and students at EpiCH have investigated a variety of tobacco control approaches.
Areas of research concentration:
Youth: Tobacco use prevention and cessation studies targeting adolescents and young adults are currently being conducted through schools, health plans and dental offices. Researchers involved in these efforts include Leslie Lytle, DeAnn Lazovich, Harry Lando and Deborah Hennrikus.
Tobacco Control Policy: The Tobacco Policy Research Group, headed by Jean Forster, conducts research projects which analyze the effect of programs and policies to reduce tobacco use by young people, promote policies to limit tobacco use in park and recreation settings, and prevent tobacco abuse among Native American youth. This research serves to assess tobacco use trends and the need for future intervention, promote local policies to enforce age of sale laws and limit exposure to second-hand smoke in public places. Also involved in research on tobacco policy are Traci Toomey, DeAnn Lazovich and Darin Erickson.
Cessation: Individual approaches to tobacco use cessation and decreasing exposure of vulnerable individuals to second-hand smoke are also important research areas in the Division. Research has focused on interventions for those at high risk for smoking-related diseases, such as persons with Type 2 diabetes, young children exposed to second-hand smoking and pregnant women. Researchers in these areas include Harry Lando and Deborah Hennrikus.
Global Tobacco Use: Research on limiting global tobacco use is an emerging interest in the Division. Harry Lando is currently conducting studies on tobacco use in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Evaluation: EpiCH researchers and staff have been tapped to evaluate several state-funded tobacco control initiatives. These efforts are headed by Jean Forster.
Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Research team involving faculty and staff from EpiCH as well as community members examining community attitudes and beliefs about tobacco use and misuse, community readiness to address tobacco misuse, and community and cultural strengths to reducing tobacco misuse. Jean Forster heads up this initiative.