Tobacco Control Overview
Tobacco use remains the top cause of preventable illness and death in Kansas. The Department of Population Health conducts internationally recognized research, teaching, and advocacy to eliminate tobacco-related harm.
Research
The department's tobacco control program began with efforts to improve treatment for African American smokers. That work has now expanded to multiple research efforts that seek better ways to reach and treat tobacco users. Department researchers now work with many underserved and high-risk communities, including American Indian, Latino, and rural tobacco users. To conduct this research, faculty collaborate with community groups, safety net clinics, primary care facilities and hospitals. Some of our major tobacco use initiatives are listed below:
- Kick-it-at-Swope (KIS) and Quit2Live: Developing better ways to help African American smokers quit and reduce their harms from smoking.
- UKanQuit: Advancing research and practice in helping hospitalized smokers quit.
- I-ANBL: Using the internet to address tobacco control among American Indian college students
- Decidete: Helping Latino smokers connect with tobacco treatment
- Tobacco Regulatory Research: Understanding the potential impact of tobacco-related policies among diverse smokers.
UKanQuit Hospital Tobacco Services
The Department of Population Health partnered with the University of Kansas Health System to develop a bedside tobacco treatment service, UKanQuit. The service allows providers to proactively work with patients to help them quit tobacco by referring to UKanQuit which provides inpatient tobacco users besides counseling, pharmacological relief from symptoms of craving and withdrawal while hospitalized, referral to outpatient support, and access to tobacco cessation medication prescriptions upon discharge. It also provides an opportunity for patients to engage in treatment and begin the journey to becoming tobacco-free.
Community Engagement
We support our community research partners, including rural, African American, Latino, and American Indian communities, to help them achieve their tobacco control goals.
The department founded a hospital tobacco treatment service, UKanQuit, that serves hundreds of inpatients a year and has become a national model.
Our faculty hold leadership positions in local, state, and national organizations to further the reach of evidence-based tobacco control. Organizations our faculty engage with include: