CU-Lock Haven Health Science Club awarded American Lung Association grant to help students quit using tobacco

The Commonwealth University-Lock Haven Health Science Club was awarded a $2,000 grant to implement a Freedom From Smoking (FFS) in-person tobacco cessation program on campus. The American Lung Association is working with colleges and universities in northcentral Pennsylvania to support students and staff with quitting all tobacco use, including vaping.

The evidence-based seven-week program will begin in January 2024 and each session is designed to help tobacco users quit smoking by gaining control over their behavior. The project was a collaborative effort among Lock Haven students, staff and alumni.

Heath Science students Samantha Arens-Ennis, student success mentor from Julian, and Abigail Masorti, Health Science Club member from Mill Hall, with the direction of Dr. Jennifer Rudella, health and exercise science associate professor and co-advisor of the Health Science Club, secured the grant funding to implement the FFS program and train Lock Haven students. Arens-Ennis and Masorti are FFS trained facilitators for undergraduate students in the Health and Exercise Science Department. The program will start Jan. 30 from 6-7 p.m. in Willis 226.

"I am looking forward to helping people improve their quality of life," Masorti said.

"As a future health professional, I am excited to help my peers make healthier choices for themselves, and reaping the benefits of living a tobacco-free lifestyle," Arens-Ennis said.

A study on the prevalence of college students using electronic cigarettes recently published in the Journal of American College Health (2022) found that 78% of participants who reported using tobacco products chose e-cigarettes or other vape products in the past three months. In the Monitoring the Future Annual Report, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, vaping nicotine in the past 30 days has more than tripled among college students, from 5.4% in 2017 to 18.9% in 2022.

"We are excited to continue our collaboration with the American Lung Association to help college students quit vaping to improve their overall health and wellness," Rudella said.

According to Meredith Bigger, a specialist of health promotion for the American Lung Association, recent statistics from The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (2021) show that 19.7% of high school students surveyed in Pennsylvania currently smoke cigarettes or cigars, use e-cigarettes products or used smokeless tobacco products. The youth that are using these products transition into colleges, often with limited campus resources to help them quit.

"This unique and valuable partnership between the American Lung Association and the Health Science Club at Lock Haven allows us to continue to pursue a shared mission and goal - to help prevent lung disease among a population of college students that have been reintroduced to nicotine dependency through both traditional tobacco products and the use of e-cigarettes and vaping," Bigger said.

"As an alumna of Lock Haven, I am extremely thankful for this important relationship with the university and I feel proud to help coordinate access to cessation services on campus for staff, faculty, students and community members in need," Bigger added.

The Tobacco Cessation Program is currently recruiting participants to take advantage of the seven-week program. Participants will meet once a week and a meal will be provided for each session. Participants will also receive up to four weeks of Nicotine Replacement Therapy free of charge. 

Anyone interested in participating in the program can contact Dr. Jennifer Rudella at jlr1147@commonwealthu.edu, Samantha Arens-Ennis at sxa9053@lockhaven.edu or Abigail Masorti at axm4877@lockhaven.edu.