Abstract 3945: The development of a culturally adapted tobacco prevention curriculum for LGBTQ+ youth across California: Formative research
Authors: Fine Michael , Surani Zulfikarali , Finster Laurel J. , Greene Juanita T. , Kajiwara Carly L. , Zaldivar Richard , Halpern-Felsher Bonnie , Haile Robert W. 
Published: March 2024

Purpose: LGBTQ+ youth exhibit some of the highest rates of tobacco use and tobacco-related morbidity and mortality, making access to cancer prevention at an early age particularly critical. The purpose of this study is to develop an LGBTQ+ culturally tailored tobacco prevention curriculum within the Stanford Tobacco Prevention Toolkit, to help prevent LGBTQ+ students from starting or escalating the use of any tobacco product.

Methods: A community-based participatory research (CBPR) was established between the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Research Center for Health Equity, facilitated by Community Outreach and Engagement, in collaboration with The Wall Las Memorias and the Stanford REACH Lab to conduct basic formative focus groups in the LGBTQ+ community. Seventy-six participants were recruited, and 9 focus groups were conducted (33 participants among LGBTQ+ youth; 19 community advocates and educators; and 24 parents/caregivers/guardians). A thematic analysis was conducted to identify lesson topics and subject matter content to be included in the curriculum and the best strategies to deliver the lesson to LGBTQ+ youth.

Results: Several themes emerged from the focus groups, including an overall theme noting a desire for more safe spaces and peer support to discuss tobacco, vaping, and marijuana use among LGBTQ+ youth. LGBTQ+ youth noted tobacco, vaping, and marijuana were very accessible through friends and social groups in the school setting. They also expressed that tobacco, vaping, and marijuana use were associated with pressures to fit in, an increasing ‘normalization’ of marijuana use, and social media channels that glorify vaping and tobacco use. LGBTQ+ youth also expressed that they do not see tobacco prevention messaging relevant to themselves or their peers nor through their preferred information channels. Parents, educators, and community advocates expressed that they would like to be offered opportunities for education and direct involvement in LGBTQ+ research. With this information, the REACH Lab is developing the LGBTQ+ curriculum.

Conclusions This CBPR approach builds upon the existing validated set of curricula contained in the Stanford Tobacco Prevention Toolkit, which is theory-driven and has reached over 3 million middle and high school students. Once completed, the LGBTQ+ Focused Tobacco Prevention Curriculum will be added to the Tobacco Prevention Toolkit and will be the first informed/validated tobacco prevention program for LGBTQ+ youth.

Citation Format: Michael Fine, Zulfikarali Surani, Laurel J. Finster, Juanita T. Greene, Carly L. Kajiwara, Richard Zaldivar, Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, Robert W. Haile. The development of a culturally adapted tobacco prevention curriculum for LGBTQ+ youth across California: Formative research [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 3945.