Summary of Teaching Plan
Tobacco smoking is a global epidemic amongst the youths today. Like the adults, the youths are also exposed to great health problems. In the United States particularly, there are huge implications for the economic and public health concerns both now and in the future. Although smoking is the most preventable cause of death, the United States has suffers approximately 500,000 smoking related deaths every year (Hanewinkel, Isensee, Sargent, & Morgenstern, 2010). Although many people are aware of the dangers of smoking, many still fall prey and end up getting addicted to the habit. It is for this reason that an anti-smoking awareness campaign was carried out at the University of Arkansas- in Arkansas State. The state was specifically selected for this campaign because it has the highest smoking statistics in the country and houses the most addicts. The primary role of the gathering was to educate the locals on the effects and dangers of smoking and its effects on their health and everyone around them.
In 2013, it was recorded that anti-smoking campaigns and Ads spurred over 100,000 smokers to quit the habit (Arcavi & Benowitz, 2004). In the process, another million people were encouraged by friends to quit smoking. The research indicated that the media and anti-smoking awareness campaign do work. With the high number of smokers, tobacco, and related costs average at $100 a year for the United States and the cost effective campaign can go a long way into reducing this expenditure. With the United States ranking the third highest in the most smoking countries worldwide there was then the need to increase the anti-smoking campaigns and awareness across the nation and into the states because lives would be saved in the process (Arcavi & Benowitz, 2004). In the Arkansas campaign, I sought to use brochures to best illustrate the effects of the smoke on human lungs. Additionally, PowerPoint presentations were used in outlining the stages of smoking from the early levels, addiction up to the point of terminal illnesses such a lung cancer. In carefully assessing the willingness of the Arkansas citizens to stop the habit, questionnaires were distributed to gather information on how much knowledge there was about smoking. The questionnaire cut across the board to encompass all educational levels and cognitive ability of the people in attendance. Concerning the audience number and the positive feedback we received during the campaign, I was personally satisfied with our efforts as a team in the entire campaign.
Epidemiological Rationale for the Topic
The CDC holds that over 40,000 deaths are experienced every year in the US due to second-hand smoke. In 2014, the records showed that 40 million adults in the United Sates were smokers with 75% smoking every day while the rest smoked occasionally (Vander Weg, 2011). As for Arkansas State, the situation is worse as 30 percent of the adults are addicts – a figure higher than the national estimation at 20% (Vander Weg, 2011). Through various awareness methods, the government has only managed to reduce the smokers by less than 4% in the last 12 months (Vander Weg, 2011). The situation is very grim with people losing lives due to direct smoking and as passive smoking. Infants and children are also encountering respiratory diseases due to the habit prevalence in the State. The governor made second hand smoking a statewide disaster subsequently enacting a law prohibiting parents from smoking in cars in the presence of any child under the age of fourteen.
For the Arkansas youth, the numbers of smokers are still high, standing at 18% in 2011 (Vander Weg, 2011). The youths are observed to engage in both tobacco and cigar smoking (Alexander, Piazza, Mekos, & Valente, 2001). The young adults smoking tobacco was at 12% while youth smoking cigars were at 15% back in 2011. In total, the youth smoking population for tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes and so on was 25% (Alexander et al., 2001). With such figures, it is only right that communities are taught on the health implications that accompany smoking. People, particularly the youth should have information regarding smoking so that they can take preventive measure early enough before smoking takes a toll on their health.
With the residents feeling the adverse effects on their health and their children, the audience at the University of Arkansas proposed various strategies that would help reduce the habit in the State. (1) Banning the numerous cigarette advertisements that are core towards driving the locals to the habit (2) Increasing the taxation on tobacco, cigarettes, and cigars. With the affordable prices of cigarettes, it is no wonder people start the practice at a very young age and soon get addicted leaving them dependent on the drug for life. (3) Increase awareness campaigns. With the proven effectiveness of the media and NGO’s in anti-smoking campaigns, the movement should continue with the hope of arousing quitters in the State.
Evaluation of Teaching Experience
The opportunity to help people on the ground and apply classwork knowledge on the field was a refreshing experience especially for a young learner like me with ambitions to soar even higher in the field of nursing. While on the field, I got to see and understand how and why people suffered from chronic diseases such as lung cancer. It is difficult to imagine the situation as it is at the classroom level until you experience it on the field. I had a chance to feel the two, and it was overwhelming. A bit of a workaround during the first few minutes, but I quickly got a hold of myself and I was helping anyone in need of information or drugs. This endowed me with the feeling of accomplishment seeing that I am able to assist someone else, which was the primary reasons why I chose to undertake my undergraduate degree in Nursing. Through the presentation, the team and I did encounter a few hitches such as language barrier and sound equipment glitches. This was probably because we did not expect the multitude that turned up for the occasion.
The audience was composed of people from different walks of life- high school students, the elderly, university students, the rich and the less fortunate all made it to the venue. Despite the huge difference in characteristics of the audience, I sought to be as informative as possible to offer a word to everyone who understood without bias to any particular group. The biggest challenge, however, was to be relevant to all the people in attendance- but I think I did a good job in engaging everyone without creating any information barriers in-between. The use of simple methods of gathering and relaying information such as questionnaires, use of brochures and PowerPoint presentations helped my course in making the slopes gentle for everyone’s understanding.
Community Response to Teaching
As aforementioned, the methods of sharing information were welcoming for the audience, and they showed appreciation for my organization and simplicity during the entire procedure. In my presentation, I used simple infographics and graphs to relay the smoking statistics for the State, and the audience response was surprising. These methods were critical towards the audience understanding despite their huge number and great diversity. In seeking to involve the audience more- I welcomed a question and answer forum at the end of the discussion in order to attend to the provocative questions that I did not cover during the presentation. This phase enabled me to see how much the locals were in need of information. I tried as much as possible to quench their thirst for knowledge though I got overwhelmed and sought assistance from a few medical professionals in the crowd and the podium. I could notice from the non-verbal cues that the audience was into the session and that they had the desire to know more pertaining the subject matter. The crowd was composed mostly of middle-aged with a few elderly males. Clusters of young female youths could also be spotted in groups all over the University hall. Overall, it was a deeply satisfying feeling to be acknowledged at the end of the schedule by the gratifying locals. I had the opportunity to seek for feedback upon concluding the teaching session. The positive responses that I got affirmed my proficient teaching capabilities and boosted my confidence although I was quite hesitant at first concerning the entire process. The positive response from the community was extended to towards the need for coming up with projects that will lower cigarette use among the young adults. They approved of the need to have more awareness programs regarding the subject matter.
Areas of Strength and Areas of Improvement
In the pursuit of this assignment, I gave it my best though I was not flawless from start to finish. There are areas where I did well while there are others where I could do better. On the presentation part, I could not have done it any better. From the planning perspective, everything we plan for was covered adequately. On the other hand the right before the start, we were hit by an unforeseen calamity- a shortage of sound facilities to cover the entire hall. We were forced to hire sound equipment from the neighboring community in order cover the gap. Due to the huge crowd, we also encountered a language barrier issue. The crowd had Caucasians, Black Americans as well as Hispanics who could only communicate in Spanish. We had to readjust our arrangement and set them aside for a separate forum. We managed to handle the problems the best way we can. We had a few Hispanics on our team who came in handy in translation and disseminating knowledge to the few who could not speak English. The problems were a path of correction in making us more prepared the next time we go for such an occasion.
Personally, I had a bit of practice the night before the campaign day so that I could do my part perfectly. On the stage, the sheer number and the elderly people got me nervous at first, but I soon acclimatized and proceeded well. My biggest regret was being unable to attend to every question that was being thrown at me by the audience. However, I did use some neat tricks by referring some to the panel and others back to the crowd. Ninety- nine percent of the questions were well answered though not in their entirety. Nonetheless, the atmosphere was jovial, and everyone was in the mood for information sharing- and that was the whole point. Despite the little hitches and bottlenecks here and there, the team and I managed to accomplish a successful smoking awareness campaign that will hopefully incite a few smokers into quitting.
References
Alexander, C., Piazza, M., Mekos, D., & Valente, T. (2001). Peers, schools, and adolescent cigarette smoking. Journal of Adolescent Health, 29(1), 22–30.
Arcavi, L., & Benowitz, N. L. (2004). Cigarette smoking and infection. Archives of Internal Medicine, 164(20), 2206–16.
Hanewinkel, R., Isensee, B., Sargent, J. D., & Morgenstern, M. (2010). Cigarette Advertising and Adolescent Smoking. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 38(4), 359–366.
Vander Weg, M. W. (2011). Adverse childhood experiences and cigarette smoking: the 2009 Arkansas and Louisiana Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Systems. Nicotine & Tobacco Research : Official Journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 13(7), 616–622.
