Media literacy and public health - Integrating theory, research, and practice for tobacco control

The influence of mass media on the culture and health-related behaviors of youth has prompted health education and health promotion practitioners and researchers to turn toward media literacy approaches. In this article, development, implementation, and evaluation of a media literacy curriculum for tobacco control for high school students are discussed. Various theories from the field of public health are used to frame practice and research issues. A quasi-experimental research design was used to assess changes in tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among students exposed to the curriculum. This type of evaluation approach has become de rigueur for assessing school-based curricula in both educational and public health fields.