173: Evaluating Tobacco Programs in California and Mississippi

Monitoring and evaluation of health programs is critical to effective programming, decision-making, and maximizing impact. Two tobacco programs in California and Mississippi address the need for consistent data tracking, monitoring, and assisting evaluators with access to valid and timely data, to inform decision-making for all stakeholders. Programs across California use the Standardized TUPE Activity Recording System (STARS) in school systems to collect data from tobacco prevention activities. STARS utilizes cloud-based data principles to help multiple stakeholders across multiple grants to track records and is accessible through computers and mobile devices. Mississippi uses the Tobacco Reporting and Progress System (TRAPS) data portal to streamline data collection and analysis for all tobacco-related programs similar to California. TRAPS features include mapping smoke-free policy ordinances in conjunction with programmatic and demographic data. The two programs thus offer insights for innovative tools in data tracking, analysis, and evaluation.