Youth tobacco use and purchase and geographic information systems

In Prince Edward Island, the percentage of Grades 5-9 students who smoked in the past 30 days decreased from 12.8% of students in 1994 to 5.9% of students in 2002, well below the national averages of 13.6% and 6.2%, respectively. [...] Of particular interest to this study is the application of GIS to the issue of substance use and social networks of urban adolescents. [...] Another limitation of GIS studies is the cost of the software and hardware required to run GIS and the need to train staff in operation of GIS computer systems can be an obstacle when attempting to implement these systems (Mullner et al., 2004). [...] Prior to the commencement of data collection, a notification of the research study was drafted and printed in the local newspaper in order to inform the public of the work that would be occurring. [...] The aim of this was to map the locations of congregations of smoking youth in order to determine key areas where smoking prevention efforts for youth should be targeted.