Fighting Secondhand Smoke at the Community Level

Action Planning Guide

  1. Introduction
  2. Coalition / worksite / school name and location
  3. Goal (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timeliness)
  1. Action Team and Skills
  2. List individuals (name, titles, contact information, expertise) that may be useful in the planning or implementing of an action plan.
  1. Assessment
  2. Identify existing tobacco control policies, the political climate, local decision makers, supporters, opponents, etc.
  1. Action Steps and Tactics
  2. Identify the tactics and action steps you will use to reach your policy goal (media advocacy, communications with policy makers, youth involvement, presentations to employees or community organizations, letter to the editor campaign, etc.).
  3. Timeline for activities
  4. Individual(s) responsible for each step
  5. Tracking of the activities
  1. Resources
  2. Identify the resources needed to make your work successful
  3. Materials needed (fact sheets, sample letters to the editor, advertisements)
  4. Sharing information with others (identify the people you need to move, including decision makes; identify the message needed; identify the appropriate speaker for your audience; identify how we will get the audience to hear the message)
  5. Cessation materials and resources (what state / local cessation resources are available?)
  1. Communication
  2. Identify how successes and activities will be communicated to the community.
  3. Individual(s) responsible for communication
  1. Evaluation and Sustainability
  2. Evaluate what worked and what didn’t work from your plan
  3. If your policy was adopted, take time to celebrate! How will you recognize the hard work of your volunteers?
  4. If your policy was not adopted, how will you sustain the momentum and continue moving forward?

Fighting Secondhand Smoke at the Community Level

Action Planning Guide

Introduction

Coalition Name:

Location:

Goal:

Action Team and Relevant Skills

List the individuals and organizations that may be useful in the implementation of your action plan

Name / Address / Phone / E-mail /

Organization

/ Expertise

Please continue on a separate sheet of paper.

Assessment

There are a variety of tools available for assessment. Please refer to the organizational resources (websites) included in your participant packet. For this exercise, please answer the following assessment questions, adapted from the American Cancer Society’s Community Assessment Guidebook: A Guide to Determine a Community’s Readiness for a Smoke-Free Policy Campaign.

Regarding the selected worksite or school:

  1. Is there an existing smoke-free policy?
  1. Are there other existing tobacco control policies?
  1. Are there other current policies pertaining to public health and protection?
  1. Who are the key decision makers?
  1. Who influences the decision makers?
  1. Are there existing tobacco education, prevention or cessation services or programs?
  1. Who are the supporters for this policy change?
  1. Who is the opposition?
  1. What is the process for policy change?
  1. What is the level of awareness in the community on secondhand smoke issues?
  1. Do employees / students / etc. support a smoke-free policy change?
  1. What similar businesses / schools in the community or county are smoke-free?
  1. Who are the reporters at the local newspaper that cover health and tobacco-related issues?
  1. What other types of media are influential? (A school newspaper or employee newsletter?)

Action Steps and Tactics

Identify the tactics and action steps you will use to reach your goal (media advocacy, youth involvement, communications with policy makers, presentations to employees or community organizations, letter to the editor campaign, offer cessation programs, etc.).

Tactics and Action Steps to Be Completed / Date to be Completed / Responsible Individual or Organization /

Evaluation of Action

/ Date Completed

Please continue on a separate sheet of paper.

Resources

After reviewing the tactics and action steps you have identified, please list the resources you will need to make your work successful. Some suggestions for your consideration:

  1. Materials needed (i.e. fact sheets, sample letters to the editor, advertisements)
  2. Experts in your community that may be helpful in communicating your message
  3. Cessation materials and resources are available
  4. Local, state and federal resources
  5. Possible funding sources (if applicable)

Resource Needed / Source / Contact Information for Source / Individual responsible for contacting the source

Please continue on a separate sheet of paper.

Communication

Identify how successes and activities will be communicated to the community as well as the individual(s) responsible for the communication.

Message to be Communicated / Mode of Communication / Responsible Individual or Organization /

Date Needed

/ Date Completed

Evaluation and Sustainability

Evaluate what worked and what didn’t work from your plan. If your policy was adopted, take time to celebrate! How will you recognize the hard work of your volunteers? If your policy was not adopted, how will you sustain the momentum and continue moving forward?

There are four types of evaluation. Decide which evaluation type is most appropriate for each of your activities. The following information is from the American Cancer Society’s Communities of Excellence in Tobacco Control: A Community Planning Guide.

Evaluation Type / Description / Example / Evaluation Activities With Minimal Resources / Evaluation Activities with Significant Resources
Formative / Done prior to implementation / Pretesting an advertisement / Informal interviews or group meetings / Formal interviews or focus groups
Process / Assessment of the processes of implementation / Monitoring the level of adherence to staff training curricula / Checklists or records reviews / Third party audits of records and on site monitoring
Outcome / Assessment of short term results / Changes in public awareness of the secondhand smoke in workplaces / Small surveys or written evaluation responses after an activity / Large scale pre- and post- evaluations of the target audience
Impact / Assessment of long term results / Changes in the proportion of the workforce covered by secondhand smoke policies / Small telephone surveys or mailed questionnaires / Large scale surveys including direct calls or site visits

Adapted from Saving Lives in the Midwest Action Planning Outline (American Cancer Society) and Taking Action Against Secondhand Smoke Action Steps (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion).