PRCHN Seminar Series: “Patterns of use and beliefs among adolescents and young adults who smoke cigarillos”

The next Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods (PRCHN) Seminar Series event will feature an exploration of the rising use of cigarillos. Titled “Patterns of use and beliefs among adolescents and young adults who smoke cigarillos,” this presentation highlights findings from an ongoing study of nearly 700 young adults and adolescents who report smoking cigarillos. The panel will be composed of:

• Sue Flocke, associate director of PRCHN;
• David Cavallo, assistant professor of nutrition;
• Elizabeth Antognoli, senior research associate at the Center for Community Health Integration;
• Rock Lim, project coordinator at the Center for Community Health Integration; and
• Sarah Koopman Gonzalez, research associate at PRCHN.

The event will be held Wednesday, Jan. 10, from noon to 1:15 p.m. in the BioEnterprise Building ground-floor conference room.

About the presentation

Tobacco use continues to be the No. 1 cause of preventable death. Prevalence of use and poor health outcomes disproportionately affect socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Of particular concern is the rise in use of alternative tobacco products including cigars, cigarillos and little cigars. The panel presentation will include:

• Findings from using social media to identify and recruit adolescent and young adults;
• Factors associated with self-identity as a smoker;
• The pros and cons of using a traditional vs. detailed assessment of the number of cigarillos smoked; and
• Qualitative findings about individuals who are likely to be hooked at first puff.

Presenters anticipate a lively discussion of how this research can inform interventions to reduce and prevent use of cigarillos.

About the presenters

Susan Flocke is an associate director at the PRCHN and professor at the Center for Community Health Integration, with secondary faculty appointments in the departments of family medicine and community health, oncology, and population and quantitative health sciences at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Her research interests include preventive service delivery in the primary care setting, doctor-patient communication of health behavior change and linkages to community resources to facilitate behavior change. David Cavallo is a behavioral scientist who studies the use of emerging communications technologies such as social media to reduce obesity-related mortality and morbidity with an emphasis on cancer. He has expertise in the areas of technology development and the design, implementation, and analysis of behavioral intervention technologies. Elizabeth Antognoli serves as a research associate in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at CWRU. Her research has focused on examining the sociocultural context of health behavior and improving health promotion and cancer prevention activities in the primary care and community settings. Rock Lim is project coordinator for the Little Cigar Study. Sarah Koopman-Gonzalez is a research associate at the PRCHN. The PRCHN Seminar Series takes place on the second Wednesday of the month from noon to 1:15 p.m. in the PRCHN ground-floor conference room of the BioEnterprise Building. All seminars are free and open to the public. Parking is available. Learn more about the series at prchn.org/PRCSeminarSeries.aspx.