Be Smart Don't Start!

“Be Smart Don't Start” is a tobacco prevention program created by Indiana University East senior level nursing students in 2007. The program was implemented in collaboration with the Wayne County Tobacco Coalition and the Indiana University East Center for Health Promotion. The curriculum is designed to target school-aged children in grades four and five. Within the first year, “Be Smart, Don't Start” has reached over 1000 children in the Richmond area.

Topics of instruction include addiction, short and long term physical effects of smoking, media influence, second hand smoke, and peer pressure. Handout materials illustrating each of these themes are provided for the children during the presentation. The children are also provided take home activity sheets to further reinforce materials discussed during the lecture.

The presentation is highly interactive and visual and tactile aids such as “Tar in a Jar”, “Dip Lip”, “Mr. Nasty Mouth”, and teeth in tobacco juice are used to present the material in an exciting and realistic fashion. The highlight of the presentation includes the use of cancerous and healthy pig lungs along with an air pump apparatus to illustrate respiration and the long term effects of tobacco inhalation. Feedback from children as well as teachers has been phenomenal.

 

 Created by: Heather Hartung & Kathy West
Indiana University East Nursing Students
Last update 4-4-2008
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