Training and Technical Assistance

Abstract

The prevention and control of tobacco use are long-standing public health priorities. Over the past five decades, tobacco researchers, practitioners, and advocates have amassed a body of knowledge that informs effective policy and legislative actions, cessation services, and advocacy strategies. The successes of the tobacco control community afforded many people an opportunity to live tobacco-free, changed social norms and patterns of tobacco use, and lowered national prevalence (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010a, 2010b). These changes, however, have not been uniformly observed. There are persistently higher rates of tobacco use and greater disease burden among persons with low income and less education, in racial/ethnic minorities, in consumers with mental health disorders, among those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer (GLBTQ), and for persons living with HIV/AIDS (Harris, 2010; Lee, Griffin, & Melvin, 2009; Trosclair & Duhe, 2010; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General, 1998). These groups are often the targets of industry-sponsored campaigns to create and maintain a constituency (Barbeau, Leavy-Sperounis, & Balbach, 2004; Stevens, Carlson, & Hinman, 2004; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General, 1998). A challenge to the tobacco control community is to ensure that its collective knowledge is used to lessen existing disparities. But what is the best way to make tobacco-free living a reality for all? How can policy, practice, evaluation, and research be combined to support this goal? And what is the role of technical assistance in this endeavor? Technical assistance and training (TAT) is widely used to transfer knowledge and technology and to assist states, locales, organizations, and individuals with building capacity to solve problems and achieve objectives (Choudhary, 2001; Godfrey et al., 2002; Thornton et al., 2004). After 1998, the Master Settlement Agreement provided resources that increased technical support for various state and local organizations (Thornton et al., 2004). Several states also increased tobacco taxes during this time and these price increases led to declines in the prevalence of smoking among youth and adults (Sloan & Trogdon, 2004). There are 427058 XXX10.1177/152483991142 7058EditorialHealth Promotion Practice / November 2011