Promoting Responsive Smoke-and Tobacco-free Policy Adoption and Implementation

The Kentucky Center of Smoke-free Policy (KCSP) is an established, internationally known policy advocacy, dissemination research, and community engagement entity serving community advocates, organizations, and policymakers as they promote and implement smoke- and tobaccofree policies. KCSP is known for producing credible, high quality health and economic outcome studies, air quality monitoring, policy analysis, and evidence-based policy advocacy to support smoke-free legislation and tobacco-free campus policies. Tobacco use is the single most preventable and costly cause of death in Kentucky. Tobacco use costs Kentucky taxpayers nearly $2 billion a year in healthcare costs. Weak policies and insufficient resources and infrastructure for tobacco control, coupled with high poverty rates, low educational attainment, and a protobacco culture, undercut Kentucky’s health and economy. This is a crucial point in Kentucky’s smoke-free movement. We will apply our adapted Community Readiness Model1,2 and policy advocacy intervention3 as we engage community stakeholders in promoting policy advocacy and sharing information with the media, the public, and policymakers. We will provide stage-based, tailored technical assistance as local and state stakeholders build capacity, build demand, and translate and disseminate local data to promote smoke-free policy change and effective policy implementation. To guide the monitoring of policy implementation and policy analysis, we will apply the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD)4 approach to assess policy strength & comprehensiveness, policy implementation indicators (community adherence and enforcement effectiveness, and population health outcomes. The objectives are consistent with KCSP’s ongoing activities, goals, and mission related to smoke- and tobacco-free policy advocacy, policy implementation, and policy analysis.