Solving The Puzzle — Working with Youth & Families
Learn how to successfully interact with youth and families affected by tobacco use. Find handouts and other informational items that you can offer as a resource. The information presented here covers many audiences — smokers, non-smokers, people who live with a smoker, concerned parents, youth, expectant mothers, Spanish language speakers, and those who use alternative forms of tobacco.
For more resources, see Parents & Families.
For state-specific resources, see State-Specific Information.
Youth and Family Education
Find resources to assist in educating youth and families about tobacco use and secondhand smoke.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Youth Tobacco-Free Sports Initiative
These posters encourage youth to be smoke-free, and can be ordered for free for an office or organization. Celebrity posters feature action movie star Jackie Chan and skateboard star Tony Hawk, and advocate healthy, tobacco-free lifestyles. To order, click a poster title which will take you to that poster on the CDC Web site. Then click the "Order Now" button. - Secondhand Smoke and the Health of Your Family Brochure (Bilingual)
This brochure can be printed double sided to contain English text on one side and Spanish text on the other side. The brochure explains the basics about the dangers of secondhand smoke to families, especially to children.
- US EPA’s Smoke Free Homes Program
This Web site offers information on the pediatric health effects of secondhand smoke, and assists families in creating a smoke-free home and car.
Youth and Family Handouts
This section includes handouts you can offer to youth and families to help educate them on the harms of tobacco and secondhand smoke.
- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Materials (pdfs)
- Secondhand Smoke
- Thirdhand Smoke
- I Quit Brochure for youth
- Teens and Tobacco
- AAP Healthychildren.org Fact Sheets (pdfs)
- California Environmental Protection Agency: Secondhand Tobacco Smoke and Children’s Health Brochures (pdfs)
For more resources to hand out to your patients to educate them on becoming smoke-free, please see Solving The Puzzle — Cessation.
Communicating with Youth and Families
Smoking cessation can be one of the hardest things a person will ever try to do. Studies have shown that most smokers want to quit, but need a little help. You can be the difference between failure and success in a person’s quit attempt.
- Role-playing exercises
Role playing exercises should be done in pairs: one player takes the role of the clinician and the other takes the role of the patient or parent. Once the exercise is completed (in about five minutes), roles are reversed for the next exercise. It is important to “say the words” in order to gain the most benefit from the exercises. The exercises help to develop counseling skills and supportive language. - 5 As Guide to Cessation
This pocket guide offers easy access to information to help a person quit smoking. The tool is based on the "5 As" approach to cessation intervention: Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist and Arrange, and offers other helpful resources.
