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Introduction
Background: In 2006, Florida voters amended the Florida Constitution. The
voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring the Florida Legislature to
appropriate 15 percent of the tobacco settlement payment (adjusted annually for
inflation) to fund the comprehensive statewide tobacco education and use
program.
The 2007 Florida Legislature passed Section
381.84, Florida Statutes, implementing the constitutional amendment and
directing the Department of Health to create a comprehensive statewide tobacco
education and use prevention program consistent with the CDC Best Practices for
Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs. In addition, the statute established a
Tobacco Education and Use Prevention Advisory Council to provide advice to the
State Surgeon General on the direction and scope of the program. Membership of
the council includes tobacco prevention experts ranging from state medical
school deans to representatives of the American Cancer Society, American Heart
Association, American Lung Association, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, and
other tobacco prevention and cessation advocates.
The Florida Youth
Tobacco Survey (FYTS) tracks indicators of tobacco use and exposure to
secondhand smoke among Florida public middle and high school students and
provides data for monitoring and evaluating tobacco use among youth for the
Florida Department of Healths Bureau of Tobacco Prevention and Control. The
first FYTS was administered in 1998. Since then, the FYTS has been conducted
annually by the Florida Department of Health. County-level data have been
collected in even years since 2000, with the exception of 2004. The FYTS has
become a part of the Florida Youth Survey (FYS), which includes the Youth Risk
Behavior Survey (YRBS), the Middle School Health Behavior Survey (MSHBS), and
the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS). The FYTS has been supported
by many agencies, including the Florida Departments of Education, Children and
Families, and Juvenile Justice, school districts throughout the state, and the
Office on Smoking and Health at the CDC.
Questions Asked in FYTS: The following topics are asked in this survey:
1) Demographic information (age, gender, grade, race/ethnicity, weight, and
height); 2) Tobacco use (cigarette, smokeless tobacco, cigar, bidis, and kreteks),
tobacco sources, quitting attempts; 3) Secondhand smoke exposure; 4) Tobacco use
prevention education; 5) Students thoughts about tobacco use (tendency to use
in the future, health attitudes toward tobacco use, social attitudes toward
tobacco use); 6) Awareness of anti-tobacco media and influence from tobacco
companies; 7) Perceptions of tobacco laws in Florida.
Sampling Methods: The FYTS is a statewide, school-based confidential
survey of Floridas public middle and high school students, which is
administrated in the spring of each calendar year. It is based on a two-stage
cluster probability sample design. First, a random sample of public middle
schools and high schools is selected for participation in the survey. Second,
within each selected school, a random sample of classrooms is selected, and all
students in those classes are invited to participate in the survey. The
responses of the survey participants are calculated to reflect the prevalence of
tobacco usage in Florida public middle and high school students.
Target Population: Florida public middle and high school students (6-12
grade levels)
Data Analysis: Since the FYTS is based on a two-stage cluster probability
sampling methodology rather than a simple random sample, SUDAAN or advanced
components of SAS or other statistical programs are recommended for the data
analysis. Confidence interval is an important measure of statistical
significance and very useful when making comparison between data. |
