Student Well-Being

Web Sends Message

By Rhea R. Borja — June 21, 2005 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

An anti-smoking program directed at teenagers is going high-tech to take its message beyond billboards and television spots.

The program hopes to reach high school students through a Web site loaded with animation, streaming video, music, and other multimedia.

Sixteen Houston public high schools have piloted the doctor-created program, called Project ASPIRE (A Smoking Prevention Interactive Experience), for two years. Preliminary results show that 2 percent of the students who used the program started smoking within 18 months, compared with 6 percent of their peers who had received only a self-help smoking-prevention booklet, said Dr. Alexandre V. Prokhorov, the lead researcher for the study and a professor in the behavioral-science department at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s School of Health Sciences at the University of Texas at Houston.

“We tried to make this [Web site] as teen-friendly as possible,” he said. “It’s really interactive.”

The site, www.mdanderson. org/departments/aspire, can be integrated into health education classes. It features an animated teenage host and video-game-like components, shows video interviews of teenagers who have quit or are trying to quit smoking, and offers ways to combat withdrawal symptoms and deal with stress, which can trigger a desire to smoke—all set to a pulsating backbeat.

The Web site also gives smoking-related statistics that may interest young people. For instance, cigarettes made out of organic tobacco, which some teenagers think of as a healthy alternative, actually contain as much as, or even more, tar and nicotine as non-organic cigarettes, according to the American Lung Association.

Tobacco use among high school students has dropped in recent years, from 34.5 percent in 2000 to 28.4 percent in 2002, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta.

The Web site, curriculum, and research study was financed by a $2.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute and a $75,000 grant from the George and Barbara Bush Endowment for Innovative Cancer Research.

Related Tags:

Events

Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Federal Webinar The Trump Budget and Schools: Subscriber Exclusive Quick Hit
EdWeek subscribers, join this 30-minute webinar to find out what the latest federal policy changes mean for K-12 education.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
End Student Boredom: K-12 Publisher's Guide to 70% Engagement Boost
Calling all K-12 Publishers! Student engagement flatlining? Learn how to boost it by up to 70%.
Content provided by KITABOO

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Student Well-Being Inside the Schools Bringing Therapy Directly to Students
K-12 schools can offer services to students despite a mental health specialist shortage.
8 min read
Notes from students expressing support and sharing coping strategies paper a wall, as members of the Miami Arts Studio mental health club raise awareness on World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, 2023, at Miami Arts Studio, a public 6th-12th grade magnet school, in Miami.
Notes from students expressing support and sharing coping strategies paper a wall, as members of the Miami Arts Studio mental health club raise awareness on World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, 2023, at Miami Arts Studio, a public 6-12 grade magnet school, in Miami.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Student Well-Being Netflix's 'Adolescence' Sparks Debate Over Sex Education in Schools
Sex education, generally ill-equipped to handle subject matter to which teens are exposed, is getting further squeezed.
6 min read
052025 abstinence sex education computer access 476732252
iStock/Getty
Student Well-Being What Schools Can Do About Climate Change Right Now
A new report details how schools can adapt for climate change in both small and big ways.
7 min read
Ceiba Phillips, an 11-year-old Eaton Fire evacuee, visits his school gutted by the fire in Altadena, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025.
Ceiba Phillips, an 11-year-old Eaton Fire evacuee, visits his school gutted by the fire in Altadena, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. A new report from EdTrust outlines how schools can adapt for climate change, from incorporating the concept into the curriculum, tending to students' climate anxiety, and making climate-resilient facility upgrades.
Jae C. Hong/AP
Student Well-Being Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ Sounds an Alarm on Troubled Teens. What Can Teachers Do?
The popular Netflix series "Adolescence" raises questions about what schools can do for troubled teens.
6 min read
Illustration of a depressive boy that is sitting and thinking on a window at night (dark blue background)
iStock/Getty