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CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND PEDAGOGY article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1503858

Spit It Out West Virginia: A Perspective of Smokeless Tobacco Cessation and Education in Rural West Virginia

Provisionally accepted
Donald Reed Donald Reed 1*Stephanie Lusk Stephanie Lusk 2Truman Dangerfield Truman Dangerfield 3Mallory Ball Mallory Ball 1Janna Stoner Janna Stoner 4Michele Bowles Michele Bowles 5
  • 1 Liberty University, Lynchburg, United States
  • 2 McDowell County Commission on Aging, Inc., Welch, West Virginia, United States
  • 3 Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States
  • 4 Pallottine Foundation of Huntington, Huntington, United States
  • 5 West Virginia Division of Tobacco Prevention, Charleston, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This article highlights strategies for implementing successful rural public health campaigns by sharing insights from the Spit It Out -West Virginia Project. Active since 2007, the project expanded to Mingo County in 2023 to address high smokeless tobacco use through culturally relevant education and cessation workshops. Key components included leveraging local partnerships, tailoring campaigns to community norms, and integrating accessible support services like the West Virginia Tobacco Quitline. Outcomes demonstrated increased awareness, behavioral change, and community engagement. Our perspective offers practical lessons for designing effective, community-based interventions in rural settings to address pressing public health challenges.

    Keywords: smokeless tobacco, cessation, workshop, Community, rural

    Received: 29 Sep 2024; Accepted: 15 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Reed, Lusk, Dangerfield, Ball, Stoner and Bowles. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Donald Reed, Liberty University, Lynchburg, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.