Development of a research program to address social inequities in smoking rates in New South Wales Australia
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Author(s)
Billie Bonevski and Jon O'Brien
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| Presenter(s) |
Professor Billie Bonevski Research Fellow, University of Newcastle, Calvary Mater Hospital, Australia |
Abstract Smoking rates are markedly higher among severely socially disadvantaged groups than in the general population in Australia. Smoking rates have been found to be highest amongst the following groups; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (50%), the homeless (70%), people with a mental illness (60%), people with drug and alcohol problems (74% to 100%), vulnerable youth (65%), and those in prison (90%). In recognition of these discrepancies, the Cancer Council New South Wales introduced a policy and program initiative called the Tackling Tobacco Program in 2006.
Tackling Tobacco aims to address inequities in smoking rates by partnering with community social service organisations who have mass reach into disadvantaged and high smoking prevalence groups. This presentation will outline the research basis of the Tackling Tobacco initiative. Research which examined the current attitudes, policies and practices of community social service organisations, the prevalence of smoking amongst clients, client interest in quitting and barriers to quitting and the provision of cessation support and feasibility results of cessation intervention development will be presented.
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Presenter biography Associate Professor Billie Bonevski is a Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle, Australia supported by a Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellowship. She is a health behaviour scientist with a research focus on examining ways to address tobacco use amongst socially disadvantaged groups. She is currently a chief investigator on over $4M of National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants on related projects and has published over 50 articles in peer review journals.
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Source of funding: Cancer Council NSW and the Cancer Institute NSW
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Declaration of interest: None
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