Problem/Objective: In 2003, The Fenway Institute began a multi-year research project including a series of tobacco treatment groups targeted to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. In developing the project, there was no model evaluation strategy to follow for tobacco treatment groups, necessitating the development of a full evaluation out of whole cloth. This effort is beyond the abilities of most non-research community based organizations running tobacco treatment groups.

Methods: After coordinating a multi-state research project with 21 tobacco treatment groups, and conducting a full literature review of the factors influencing effectiveness of tobacco cessation, the researchers developed a simple evaluation model that can be used by community organizations running tobacco treatment groups.

Results: The short evaluation has been published in a book "How to run a culturally competent LGBT smoking treatment group". Not-specific to LGBT people, the evaluation includes recommended instruments, a timetable of when to administer the instruments, and recommended indices for reporting. It is intended to be broadly applicable to tobacco treatment groups, and does not require professional evaluation expertise.

Conclusions: Too often, community-based organizations are left without the resources to evaluate their programs. This simple smoking treatment group evaluation will assist community groups in identifying their challenges and successes, and help them demonstrate impact to their funders.