Evaluating Tobacco Law Enforcement Roundtables

1. Evaluating Tobacco Law Enforcement Roundtables Jeanette Treiber, PhD, UC Davis Center for Program Evaluation and Research Mary Strode, MS, California Department of Public Health Contact: jtreiber@ucdavis.edu; mary.strode@cdph.ca.gov; http://programeval.ucdavis.edu Method Abstract Policy and Deliberation: Evaluating Tobacco Law Enforcement Roundtables (Tobacco Sales to minors) In 2008 the California Department of Public Health’s Tobacco Control Program set out to conduct a series of roundtables with local law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders in four different sites throughout California to explore local tobacco retail licensing implementation and enforcement challenges and solutions in order to reduce the sale of tobacco to minors. In order to learn whether or not this format was going to be useful for advancing statewide health policy compliance and enforcement, the workgroup decided to evaluate the roundtable events. The purpose of this presentation is to share the evaluation planning and preliminary findings of this ongoing effort to help reflect on deliberation evaluation. The mixed methods approach used for this evaluation is informed by the literature on assessing policy change efforts and on deliberation. It has been quite formative in the roundtable events thus far. • Partial Results • (events still ongoing) • Partial Results from two Regional Roundtables • High stakeholder participation rate • Planning committee desires more division of labor on • planning and organizing (consensus not necessary on all • aspects of planning) • Good consistent communication • Engaged participants • Format worked well; suggestions for improvement made • List of Best Practices achieved • Partial List of Best Practices • Procedural: Educate retailers prior to enforcement Enforcement: Use 15 and 16 year old youth decoys • Information sharing: Share resources and information with administrators, enforcement and adjudicators Objective • Measure the extent to which the law enforcement roundtables achieve • Set goals • Information exchange • Common understanding of shared values • Range of solutions • Consideration of impact on diverse stakeholders • Participation rights and responsibilities • Opportunity to participate • Mutual respect • Stakeholders • California Department of Public Health • Local tobacco control programs • Local law enforcement agencies • Point-of-sale advisory group • Community members