TPCP Launches Systems Training and Outreach Program (STOP) - October 13th, 2011
The Arkansas Department of Health’s Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program has developed an outreach program to work with health care providers serving populations with disproportionally high smoking/tobacco use prevalence to help them quit tobacco successfully. The Systems Training Outreach Program (STOP) will use regionally based specialists to provide education and support to providers in increasing the capacity and efficiency of their care systems.
In particular, the specialists will help providers routinely identify patients who are tobacco users and connect them to the available resources in the state. The program will aim to decrease prevalence statewide, with a special focus on reducing the many disparities between populations in Arkansas, including:
- Less educated populations who have a much higher percentage of smokers than those populations with more formal education. As the level of education decreases, tobacco use prevalence has been shown to increase.
- Lower income populations who have a much higher percentage of smokers than those in higher income groups. As the annual income decreases, tobacco use prevalence increases
Benefits of the outreach program to Arkansas:
- Educated and trained providers in coordinated tobacco treatment
- Decreased tobacco use among disparate populations
- Decline in economic impact of tobacco related illness in Arkansas
- Decline in economic impact from loss in productivity
- Improved health for Arkansans
Click here to learn more, or for more information contact Dathan Johnson at Dathan.Johnson@arkansas.gov
