Community Action For Smoking Cessation In Remote Aboriginal Communities
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,162,650.00
Summary
Smoking rates halved in Australia over the past 30 years to below 20% in 2004. However, Indigenous Australians continued to smoke at more than double this rate. In remote Aboriginal communities in the NT's 'Top End', over two-thirds of the population smoke. Smoking tobacco causes the greatest burden of disease for Australians generally. For Indigenous Australians, it is the single most important reversible risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality. With no sign of reduction in smoking le ....Smoking rates halved in Australia over the past 30 years to below 20% in 2004. However, Indigenous Australians continued to smoke at more than double this rate. In remote Aboriginal communities in the NT's 'Top End', over two-thirds of the population smoke. Smoking tobacco causes the greatest burden of disease for Australians generally. For Indigenous Australians, it is the single most important reversible risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality. With no sign of reduction in smoking levels, Indigenous Australians remain at greater risk of hospitalisations or death from many tobacco-related illnesses. Smoking in Australia was reduced through individually-oriented measures, public education and supply control. These strategies have either not been tried or have not been adequately studied in Aboriginal communities. Effective interventions could provide major health gains for Aboriginal Australians and reduce health costs. The intervention we propose will be based on an agreement whereby four remote communities in the 'Top End' will make a pact with the researchers to jointly try to reduce tobacco smoking using community-wide mobilisation, training and education. The intervention with have multiple components. We will not evaluate each component separately. The effect of the whole intervention on smoking will be assessed. Tobacco sales for the whole community in these small isolated localities, a sensitive and reliable measure, should decline if the intervention works. Tobacco smokers will be assessed before the intervention in each community and followed up twice to assess quit rates. Quit rates should go up. Five years are needed for the study because smoking behaviour change does not happen quickly or at peoples' first attempt. With staggered implementation of the intervention, i.e. not starting in all communities at once, reductions in smoking in more than one community will make us confident that the intervention worked.Read moreRead less
The Centre Of Research Excellence On Achieving The Tobacco Endgame (CREATE)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,500,000.00
Summary
The Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame (CREATE) will develop a strategy to make Australia smoke-free. Our multi-disciplinary research will determine which strategies are the most effective, equitable and acceptable to the public and policymakers. We will identify the barriers and enablers, and make recommendations on the optimal suite of policies to end the cigarette epidemic and reduce the healthcare burden associated with smoking related diseases.
An Open-label Randomised Pragmatic Policy Trial Of Nicotine Products For Short-term Cessation Assistance Or Long-term Substitution In Smokers.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,053,910.00
Summary
Many smokers who try to quit fail in their attempt. Medicinal nicotine is currently only used as a short-term quit aid. This trial will test if offering smokers the option of using these products as long-term substitutes for cigarettes will help more smokers to successfully quit. We will also determine if offering smokers low toxicity smokeless tobacco and electronic nicotine devices in addition to medicinal nicotine products further increases the number of smokers who quit successfully.
Intervention For Tobacco Dependence Among People With A Psychotic Illness
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$387,625.00
Summary
The prevalence of smoking among people with a psychiatric illness, especially schizophrenia, is greater than that in the general population. Exposure to tobacco smoke has been identified as a cause of 32 different diseases as well as a cause of fire injuries. Tobacco smoke is known to contain carcinogens, as well as nicotine and numerous other poisonous substances. An extensive body of scientific evidence shows that active cigarette smoking increases the risk of many different cancers. Smoking r ....The prevalence of smoking among people with a psychiatric illness, especially schizophrenia, is greater than that in the general population. Exposure to tobacco smoke has been identified as a cause of 32 different diseases as well as a cause of fire injuries. Tobacco smoke is known to contain carcinogens, as well as nicotine and numerous other poisonous substances. An extensive body of scientific evidence shows that active cigarette smoking increases the risk of many different cancers. Smoking related diseases rate second in frequency to suicide as the greatest contributor to early mortality in schizophrenia. Popular opinion holds that people with mental illness are lacking in motivation to change their behaviour due to the effects of their mental illness. However, a recent survey of inpatients in a psychiatric hospital in Newcastle, NSW, revealed that over a quarter of smokers were either preparing to quit or cut down on their smoking or already had taken action to reduce their smoking. The present research proposal represents the first large randomised controlled trial of an intervention for tobacco dependence among people with a mental illness. This project will compare the effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy combined with counselling with a self-help booklet on smoking. The proposed research follows a small clinical study of the feasibility of the intervention and a small randomised controlled trial supported by the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund. The proposed study brings together the expertise of several people across Australia who have experience in treating people with mental illness and drug dependence, including tobacco dependence. The results will inform future clinical interventions for smokers with a mental illness.Read moreRead less
Smoking Cessation For Youth Project Booster And Cohort Tracking Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$135,550.00
Summary
Adolescence is a critical period for the establishment of adult drug use behaviours. If smoking does not commence in teenage years it is unlikely to occur. This innovative project not only continues to address tobacco control with this important age group but also builds on evidence from a randomised intervention trial involving over 4,000 Year 9 students tracked over two years. This project was called the Smoking Cessation for Youth Project (SCYP). Preliminary longitudinal analyses of the SCYP ....Adolescence is a critical period for the establishment of adult drug use behaviours. If smoking does not commence in teenage years it is unlikely to occur. This innovative project not only continues to address tobacco control with this important age group but also builds on evidence from a randomised intervention trial involving over 4,000 Year 9 students tracked over two years. This project was called the Smoking Cessation for Youth Project (SCYP). Preliminary longitudinal analyses of the SCYP data indicate that the intervention students were significantly less likely to smoke heavily (smoking five or more days per week) than the control group and that intervention students were also significantly less likely to have tried smoking than the control group. These results represent a world first in evidence that population-based smoking cessation interventions among teenagers can be successful. The proposed project will determine the extent to which these positive intervention effects are sustainable, two years post intervention, as our cohort moves into Year 12. In addition to tracking the possible decay of SCYP intervention effects, the proposed project will also measure the effects of a booster intervention delivered students when they are in Year 12 (2002). The Year 12 intervention will comprise an innovative self-help 'magazine style' booster and a supportive environmental intervention involving school nurses and local GPs. This proposal represents a cost-effective opportunity to measure the effectiveness of a Year 12 tobacco cessation booster intervention. Further data on tobacco smoking behaviour in 2002 will also enable us to determine how long the SCYP intervention appears to affect behaviour and whether 'boosters' are needed in later secondary school years to maintain the benefits.Read moreRead less
Reducing Tobacco Harm During Pregnancy, Infancy And Early Childhood Among Groups With High Smoking Prevalence
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$346,449.00
Summary
This research will contribute to the evidence base for reducing harm from tobacco during pregnancy, infancy and early childhood, among groups with high smoking prevalence. It will: generate evidence on a program to help pregnant Indigenous women quit smoking; develop tools and evidence to support implementation of smoking cessation guidelines in public antenatal services; and explore people’s understanding regarding protecting children from harms of passive smoking at home.
Evaluating Population-wide Efforts To Reduce Tobacco Use: Continuation Of The ITC-Four Country Cohort In Australia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,368,936.00
Summary
This study is part of a large international collaboration to study whether policies directed at whole communities work as planned. We survey around 2000 smokers from each of 4 countries every year. We compare reactions of smokers in a country with a policy to those in a country without such a policy or with a different policy. We do this by following through the likely chain of effects to smoking cessation. In this way we can provide advice to governments not only on whether their policies work ....This study is part of a large international collaboration to study whether policies directed at whole communities work as planned. We survey around 2000 smokers from each of 4 countries every year. We compare reactions of smokers in a country with a policy to those in a country without such a policy or with a different policy. We do this by following through the likely chain of effects to smoking cessation. In this way we can provide advice to governments not only on whether their policies work as intended, but how to improve them.Read moreRead less
Mass Disseminable Approaches To Smoking Cessation In General Practice
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$412,100.00
Summary
Tobacco smoking is the most significant preventable cause of mortality in Australia. At any one time, many smokers want to quit. There are several interventions that are known to work in research settings, such as advice from care providers, self-help materials, drug therapies and telephone counselling. This study wants to find out if these strategies work in ordinary general practice. Over 50% of Australian have access to the Internet and research suggests that seeking health information is one ....Tobacco smoking is the most significant preventable cause of mortality in Australia. At any one time, many smokers want to quit. There are several interventions that are known to work in research settings, such as advice from care providers, self-help materials, drug therapies and telephone counselling. This study wants to find out if these strategies work in ordinary general practice. Over 50% of Australian have access to the Internet and research suggests that seeking health information is one of the most common uses of this technology. The rapid growth of Internet use potentially provides access to a number of cessation aids for tobacco smokers, including online support through 'chat rooms'. It is also possible to tailor interventions to individuals according to their stated interests and readiness to quit. General practitioners, in addition to providing support and care to smokers attemtping to quit, can direct them to community services such as Quit Victoria, which now offers smoking cessation programs tailored to individuals' needs delivered either through telephone counselling or by the Internet. We want to know whether more smokers quit successfully if their GP refers them to Quit services in addition to their usual care. As well as assessing the effectiveness of broadly distributable interventions in smoking cessation, this project will also collect data about the use of the Internet for health research. Little is known about how to perform research on the Web. This project will allow automatic monitoring of how people respond to research endeavours in this environment.Read moreRead less
Unintended Adverse Effects Of Advertising For Nicotine Replacement Therapies
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$133,250.00
Summary
Advertising for certain pharmaceutical products (nicotine replacement therapy( NRT)) to help people quit smoking has been permitted in Australia since 1997. Zyban, an antidepressant drug, has been found to be helpful in quitting smoking, but advertising has not yet been permitted in Australia although it is allowed overseas. Because such advertising will reach more than the primary target group of heavy smokers ready to quit, it is important to consider the responses of other smokers who are not ....Advertising for certain pharmaceutical products (nicotine replacement therapy( NRT)) to help people quit smoking has been permitted in Australia since 1997. Zyban, an antidepressant drug, has been found to be helpful in quitting smoking, but advertising has not yet been permitted in Australia although it is allowed overseas. Because such advertising will reach more than the primary target group of heavy smokers ready to quit, it is important to consider the responses of other smokers who are not ready to quit and those at risk of taking up smoking. There is concern that there may be 'boomerang' effects, albeit unintended, on these population groups, because they may feel reassured that there is an effective method to quit and so be in no rush to quit soon, they may try to quit using these products before they are really ready, and in the case of teenagers, they may think that these products make it easy to quit, so there is less problem with starting to smoke. In order to assess if this is so, we will randomly allocate smokers not yet ready to quit and teenagers to either (a) a group where they view 3 ads promoting non-drug methods of quitting, such as the Quitline, (b) a group where they view 3 ads promoting the NRT gum or patch, or (c) a group where they view 3 ads promoting Zyban as a method for quitting. The study will use questionnaires to assess whether, compared with those viewing the non-drug anti-smoking ads, those viewing the NRT or Zyban ads think smoking is less addictive and have less intention to quit, or in the case of teenagers, have more intention to take up smoking. This project will be the first formal study to assess whether there may be adverse effects of NRT and Zyban advertising on smokers not yet ready to quit and teenagers who are not already regular smokers. For this reason, the study will help an assessment of the risks of such advertising compared with the established benefits for smokers who are ready to quit.Read moreRead less
How Do Media Campaigns And Tobacco-relevant News Coverage Influence Adolescent And Adult Smoking?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$411,177.00
Summary
The study will merge measures of exposure to televised anti-smoking advertising, press coverage about tobacco issues and other tobacco control policies with (a) an annually interviewed cohort of 2,000 adult smokers from 2002-2008 and (b) triennial surveys of smoking among adolescents 1993-2008 (n-150,000). Analysis will determine the role of anti-smoking advertising and tobacco-related press coverage in moving smokers towards quitting and changing adolescent smoking.