Q: West Virginia is seeking information and examples from other state/territory tobacco programs regarding smoking and pregnancy, looking specifically at:

1. Surveillance: Has your state successfully utilized survey tools for providers (IE: OB/GYN, Pediatricians, any others) regarding tobacco cessation for pregnant smokers? If so, please share any survey tools and reports, particularly those that address the following questions:
    
   1. Are providers offering cessation services (e.g. 5 A’s, referrals to state quitlines, etc.)?
       
   2. Who counsels patients in their office settings?
       
   3. What (if any) NRT medications are providers recommending, prescribing?
       
2. Media/education: Please submit examples of successful tools and educational materials, particularly campaigns with documented success in reducing smoking rates during pregnancy. We have checked the CDC’s Media Campaign Resource Center (www.cdc.gov/tobacco/mcrc) and are still looking for materials that would work for us here in West Virginia. We are interested in all types of media materials, including but not limited to print, radio, TV ads, as well as pamphlets, curriculums, etc.

A:

1. Alabama: In our state, a committee is finding ways to reduce infant mortality (COIN initiative) and we want to help pregnant women quit tobacco use.
    
2. Arkansas: Media materials from Arkansas’s prevention campaign are available from the TCN (tcn@astho.org) upon request. Materials include: brochures, fact cards, PowerPoint presentation for coalitions to use, fax referral form, press releases, a letter to local health units, a letter to tobacco control advocates, and a radio spot.
    
3. Louisiana: In terms of surveillance, Louisiana has always monitored calls from pregnant women to the quitline on a weekly/monthly basis. This information has been provided to us in our standard monthly reports from our quitline contractor, Alere. The weekly calls were detailed in a weekly email during the course of our media campaign. We have recently established an e-referral process for pregnant smokers, through partnership with the Birth Outcomes Initiative’s Louisiana Health Assessment, Referral and Treatment tool. It is a web-based prenatal behavioral health screen that assesses tobacco/alcohol/substance use, as well as domestic violence. Any quitline referrals for pregnant women that come from a reproductive health provider that has completed the necessary training will be identified as a LaHART referral. Thus, we will be able to track the number of referrals from OB/GYNs.
    
   Regarding media and education, please see the attached abstract detailing the radio ad campaign that ran in Louisiana during Spring 2011. Also attached is the radio ad itself. In addition, please see the attached copy of the event summary for that Spring and the success story that details the Quit With Us, Mom and Baby campaign that was launched that Spring in conjunction with the radio ad.
    
4. North Carolina: In North Carolina we have not developed mass media campaigns for pregnant women, as the population of women who happen to be pregnant at any given time is a small and expensive target to hit with mass media. We have worked with health care providers and our (now unfunded by the General Assembly) Health and Wellness Trust Fund and Healthy Start Foundation to develop and distribute tools that can help pregnant women quit. Relevant resources / websites include:
    
   • You Quit, Two Quit Project website
   • Five Steps To Help Your Patients Quit For Two fact sheet – Quitline NC
   • You Quit, Two Quit: A guide to help new mothers stay smoke-free
   • Pregnant & Postpartum Patients guide for healthcare providers- QuitlineNC.com
   • Take the First Step for Your Baby Self-Help Guide
      
5. North Dakota: We have done some work with pregnant women in our state, including a survey of OB/GYNs to get a baseline on their cessation practices and have done a Baby & Me Tobacco Free cessation program and a SIDS/SHS media campaign that we would be willing to share with interested states.
    
   Editor’s note: For more information, contact the TCN staff at tcn@astho.org.
    
6. Oklahoma: Oklahoma does have a campaign called “Visual Echo” which has a TV, radio, print and bus interior, shelter and bench campaign. You can see the TV commercial here at our website-- scroll down, and it is the last ad on the page. The radio ad, print ad, and a presentation about the results of the campaign are available upon request from the TCN.
    
7. Texas: Here are materials from our latest campaign here in Texas that was developed to target women who are pregnant or have small children at home. We saw an increase in quitline calls among pregnant, women who are breastfeeding or those planning to become pregnant in the areas we ran media and saw a record number of hits to our landing page.
    
   We don't have any formal research, but we do have some campaign results in the pdf that help show the success of the campaign.
    
8. Vermont: We're gearing up to launch a targeted media campaign for this population as well as women of child-bearing age.
    
9. Washington: We did a campaign called Quit for You Quit for 2. A couple of the items are attached here. Materials include: Quit for You, Quit for Two campaign announcement, Fax Referral Incentive Promotion announcement, “Be a Smoke-Free Family” brochure, “Baby Bunny” print ad, Spanish-language PSA, and two campaign evaluation reports.
    
   Editor’s note: Please contact the TCN staff at tcn@astho.org to inquire about obtaining additional media materials from Washington’s Quit for You Quit for 2 campaign, including the video that was used with healthcare providers.
    
10. Wyoming: We have started to work on a plan to address this same topic in Wyoming. We are interested in the very same questions listed under surveillance. Also, we are interested in media and/or other strategies states have used to address the issue. Any evaluation of media and other strategies would be very helpful.

Back to Table of Contents