Community-based participatory research provides communities and researchers with opportunities to develop interventions that are effective as well as acceptable and culturally competent. The present project responds to the voices of the North Carolina American Indian (AI) community and the desire for their youth to recognize tobacco addiction and…

This article presents a conceptual framework that was developed to guide a national evaluation of the American Legacy Foundation's (Legacy) Statewide Youth Movement Against Tobacco Use (SYMATU) program. This program was designed to develop youth-led, youth-directed initiatives within local communities. Two evaluation studies were designed and…

Whereas most evaluations of youth empowerment focus on individual outcomes (i.e., were individual youths empowered?), this article focuses on the program as the unit of analysis and seeks to explain how organizational structures, program design features, and processes lead to organizational empowerment (OE). OE is defined as organizational efforts…

This study examined adult and group influences on youth participation in youth empowerment (YE) Statewide Youth Movement Against Tobacco Use programs. Adults provide individual guidance to youth groups and through existing tobacco control networks affect the social context in which YE programs are implemented. The authors tested hypotheses about…

Through the American Legacy Foundation's Statewide Youth Movement Against Tobacco Use (SYMATU), programs aimed at empowering youths to take action against tobacco use were funded. It is believed that the activities these groups undertake result in changes at the community level. This article examines the relationships between community support of…

This study applied self-efficacy theory to assess empowerment to advocate on behalf of tobacco control policies. The Youth Tobacco Survey with added policy advocacy self-efficacy, attitudes, and outcome expectations scales was given to 9,177 high school students in Texas. Asians showed the lowest prevalence of experimentation and current smoking,…

A core component of Legacy's Statewide Youth Movement Against Tobacco Use is the ability of state and local initiatives to empower youth to effect change in their communities. The authors' conceptual framework proposes that youth empowerment is an outcome of the process by which youths become active participants in local efforts. Youths are…

The American Legacy Foundation funded 13 state health departments for their Statewide Youth Movement Against Tobacco Use in September 2000. Its goal was to create statewide tobacco control initiatives implemented with youth leadership. The underlying theory behind these initiatives was that tobacco control efforts can best be accomplished by…