Stacey Edwards

Stacey Edwards, health educator at the Oregon State University Department of Student Health Services, has received a $15,000 grant from the American Thoracic Society Foundation/American Lung Association in Oregon. The award will provide funding for her project “Reducing Non-daily Smoking among OSU Students.”

Edwards spearheaded the recent Smoke-Free OSU project, which took effect Sept. 1, and prohibits anyone from smoking on the OSU campus. Implementation of the project took more than a year and involved multiple partnerships with other campus entities to bring about.

Edwards’ new project focuses on non-daily smokers, that is, smokers who do not smoke on a regular basis, and who sometimes do not even identify as smokers, making them harder to target with smoking cessation messages. Edwards and her team will develop a marketing and education campaign at OSU that targets this group of students who smoke with the aim to reduce smoking through cessation.

The grant is supported through a partnership between the ATS Foundation and American Lung Association-Oregon.

The smoke-free policy is in effect year-round, including game days, so visitors to campus who are participating in tailgaiting activities will also be prohibited from smoking.

Enforcement will focus on educating students, staff and visitors about the policy, but those who refuse to abide by the campus’ smoke-free policy may be asked to leave by OSU Department of Public Safety. Students will be held accountable under the student conduct code and employees under OSU employment policies. Contractors, vendors, event attendees, those who rent or lease university property and other visitors to OSU could be subject to exclusion from campus for violation of the new policy.

Smoking also is not permitted inside personal vehicles on campus.

Among the prohibited smoking devices are cigars, cigarettes, pipes, electronic cigarettes or other devices intended to simulate smoking.

OSU students, faculty and staff can purchase nicotine-replacement therapy products at the OSU Pharmacy, located at Student Health Services in Room 109. There are also a variety of free programs available to faculty, staff and students who would like help quitting. OSU students can access free tobacco cessation counseling, and receive nicotine gum and patches at no cost at Student Health Services, 541-737-9355. OSU faculty and staff can access smoking cessation services through www.oregon.gov/DAS/PEBB/FreeClear.shtml. Another helpful service is the Oregon Tobacco Quit Line at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).

If you see someone smoking on campus, you can call the Department of Public Safety at 541-737-3010 to report the activity. Some may choose to inform others of the policy. If you choose to do so, you are encouraged to respectfully inform them of the policy.

For more information: http://oregonstate.edu/smokefree/

Related stories:

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/lifeatosu/2012/the-international-politics-of-smoking/

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/lifeatosu/2011/tobacco-cessation-program-helps-osu-student-get-back-on-track/

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/lifeatosu/2011/improving-osu%E2%80%99s-quality-of-life-through-healthy-choices/

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/lifeatosu/2012/osu-campus-goes-smoke-free-on-sept-1/

~ Theresa Hogue

Peer Health Advocate Patric Abi Nader talks to an INTO student about the free smoking cessation program offered through Student Health Services. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

As Oregon State University prepares to become a smoke-free campus in September, efforts are being made to reach out to different populations to both educate them on the policy, and to offer access to the smoking cessation offerings that are available free to students and staff.

Currently, much work is being done to target INTO OSU students with a widespread outreach effort, and language, cultural, and religious considerations are key to the cessation policy’s message. Student Health Services’ newly hired graduate assistant Patrick Abi Nader, a native of Lebanon and a Peer Health Advocate with SHS, is using his own experiences as an international student to reach out to INTO students, and so far, has received a warm welcome.

“Students have been very open to discussing the issue,” he said. “Approaching them has been successful.”

There are a variety of ways in which Abi Nader and Peer Health Advocates have been reaching out to INTO students. Posters and educational materials are being translated into several native languages. Tabling events and workshops are being organized and Abi Nader even uses the old fashion technique of simply approaching students smoking outside the INTO building to chat with them.

So far, no one has been hostile, and in fact, Abi Nader said the fact that he’s a non-native speaker seems to put other international students at ease. It has also helped him as he gives smoking cessation counseling sessions to international students.

“They know they don’t have to speak perfect English to speak with me,” he said.

Abi Nader also tries to be culturally savvy about his approach. For instance, if he sees a group of male students from the Middle East standing together, he knows that one of them is likely the leader, or main influencer, of the group, so he tries to quickly establish which student is taking charge of the conversation, and directs his efforts that way. He is also fluent in Arabic, which can help the situation.

New INTO students arriving at OSU this summer and fall should already be aware of the coming smoke-free policy through INTO recruiters in their home countries. And once here, groups including Peer Health Advocates, University Housing and Dining Services, and Student Health Services will join INTO to make them aware of programs like free nicotine patches, gum and counseling sessions, to help smokers if they’re interested in quitting.

But Stacey Edwards, Smoke Free OSU Project Director and PHA Coordinator, recognizes that smoking isn’t just about addiction. It’s also about a social network that can be especially important to students coming to live in the U.S from other countries.

From right, Peer Health Educators Alex Pearson and Stephanie Liu hand out information about smoking cessation and the upcoming OSU smoke-free campus policy. (photo by Theresa Hogue)

“International students tend to cluster around each other when they arrive,” Edwards said. “Sometimes they’ll even pick up mannerisms, such as going outside to smoke together. Some students who haven’t smoked before pick up the habit when they come here.”

The hope is that the smoke-free policy on campus will actually encourage an environment where those students who want to quit will finally be able to because they won’t have the constant reminder or social pressure of groups smoking near buildings.

“It will become an environment that is supportive of their choice,” Edwards said.

Edwards said INTO OSU and UHDS staff have been important partners during the education process, and she’s encouraged that international students are slowly starting to come into SHS for smoking cessation counseling. Abi Nader has only had a handful of clients during his first two weeks with the program, but as word of mouth spreads, and the smoke-free campus deadline approaches, those numbers are bound to increase.

For more information: http://studenthealth.oregonstate.edu/tobacco-cessation