Fellow Update: Andersen

Andersen is part of the Gold Country Fellow Team. He is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health at UC Davis. Read about his project below.

“There is a growing concern of high smoking rates among international students on smoke-free campuses across the nation. Though the research on this topic may be limited, there is a need to address strategies that will engage this population with the campus smoke tobacco-free policy and tobacco cessation resources. This year-long project comprises three phases: outreach, data collection, and an adaption of a communication plan. In the outreach phase, we started marketing language-specific tobacco quitline advertisements in Chinese and Korean to new students at events on campus. During the data collection phase, we will be conducting focus groups with international students and international-related community stakeholders to gather information about health messages, strategies, and channels to effectively reach this population. Finally, we will use the data to develop tobacco prevention- communication materials and strategies in preparation for the next school year or for future campaign efforts.”