THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 
Smoking Prevention Through Mass Media and School Programs 

Evaluation Summary

Students in two communities received media-school interventions, and students in two matched communities received only school interventions from grades 5-7 through grades 8-10. A long-term follow-up was conducted in grades 10-12, two years after interventions were completed. Substantial and significant reductions in smoking prevalence were achieved. Further analyses demonstrated that these interventions were highly cost-effective.

Smoking prevalence in 1991 was 20.5% (95% CI 18.9-22.1) in the media-school communities and 26.2 (95% CI 24.6-27.8) in the school-only communities, a difference of 5.7% (95% CI 3.5-8.0). Mediating variables measured annually during program implementation indicated that the programs had achieved their educational objectives. Long-term reductions in smoking prevalence were especially strong for high risk youths and girls, groups that were emphasized in the design of the media messages.

The number of smokers averted, among approximately 18,600 students potentially exposed to the media program would be 1064, for cost per smoker averted of $711 (95% CI $511-$1,173). Assuming nonsmokers live 5 years longer than smokers, the cost per life-year gained, discounted at 3%, would be $472 (95% CI $338-$778). Using published data for the direct and indirect costs attributable to smoking, converted to 1996 dollars, for every dollar invested in the development, production and broadcasting of the mass media program, $11 would be saved in avoiding heart disease, $37 in avoiding chronic pulmonary disease, and $8 in avoiding lung cancer.