Comment on Draft Statement on Interventions for Prevention and Cessation of Tobacco Use in Children and Adolescents
Psychological scientists have a valuable opportunity to comment on two new documents drafted to advise the US federal government on the topic of prevention and cessation of tobacco and nicotine use in young people.
The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a volunteer panel of experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine, has drafted two new documents related to the topic of prevention and cessation of tobacco and nicotine use in children and adolescents. These documents are (1) a draft evidence review, and (2) a draft recommendation statement based on the information developed in the evidence review.
The evidence review reports an analysis of 27 trials investigating the effects of behavioral interventions on smoking-related outcomes that can be applied in a primary medical care setting. The draft recommendations reflect the efforts of the USPSTF to aggregate these results.
“The USPSTF recommends that primary care clinicians provide interventions, including education or brief counseling, to prevent initiation of tobacco use among school-aged children and adolescents,” the recommendation reads.
The recommendation also concludes that the evidence is insufficient to assess whether interventions are feasible for encouraging school-aged children and adolescents to stop using tobacco once they have started.
Psychological scientists who wish to comment on the draft evidence review or the draft recommendation statement should visit those documents directly by clicking on the links in this paragraph. The opportunity to comment closes July 22, 2019.
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