Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
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Comparative Study
Media advocacy and newspaper coverage of tobacco issues: a comparative analysis of 1 year's print news in the United States and Australia.
Tobacco control advocates now recognize the value of influencing news coverage of tobacco; news coverage influences attitudes and behavior as well as policy progression. It is, however, difficult to assess the progress of such efforts within a single national and temporal context. Our data represent the first systematic international comparison of press coverage of tobacco issues. ⋯ The substantive focus of coverage, however, differed, as did the expression of hostile opinion toward tobacco control efforts (United States, 4%; Australia, 7.1%). Although secondhand smoke and education, cessation, and prevention efforts were covered widely in both settings, these topics dominated coverage in Australia (29.2%) more than in the United States (17.6%), where a more diffuse set of tobacco topics gained relative prominence. The difference in policy conditions seems to offer contrasting opportunities for advocates in the two countries to use newspapers to promote helpful tobacco control messages for both behavior and policy change.
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Tobacco cessation knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of dentists participating in a large national managed care dental plan were assessed using a mailed survey. The survey was administered to dentists recruited to participate in an evaluation of a CD-ROM and supportive electronic detailing to promote increased tobacco cessation activities. General dentists who met specific technological criteria, had an active E-mail account, and at least 200 adult patients were eligible to participate in this study. ⋯ Although self-reported lack of knowledge was high, 71% of respondents indicated that their lack of knowledge was either not a barrier or a slight barrier to incorporating tobacco cessation into their practices. The survey revealed that dentists do not routinely incorporate tobacco cessation into their practices. Newer information-transfer technologies may serve as vehicles for increased smoking cessation activities by dentists.
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This paper describes smoking cessation among adult California residents of Korean descent, based on a telephone survey (N = 2,830). The overall quit rate (number of former smokers divided by number of ever-smokers) was 55.0% (55.8% among males and 49.6% among females). ⋯ Those with lower acculturation, higher body mass index, a social network discouraging smoking, home smoking restriction, correct beliefs about smoking harm, and significant concern about one's health were most likely to quit smoking for 90 days or longer. Results suggest that social and situational conditions should be included in the design of smoking cessation interventions among Koreans.
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The present study attempted to identify predictors of smoking cessation in a cohort of cigarette smokers followed over 13 years. Data are reported on 6,603 persons who resided in one of 20 U. S. communities involved in the National Cancer Institute's Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation (COMMIT) study, were current smokers in the COMMIT trial in 1988, and completed detailed tobacco use telephone surveys in 1988, 1993, and 2001. ⋯ Other predictors included male gender, older age, higher income, and less frequent alcohol consumption, although the gender effect no longer existed when cessation from cigarettes as well as other tobacco products was considered as the outcome. The present study shows that nicotine dependence is a major factor predicting long-term cessation in smokers. This finding has implications for tobacco control policy and treatment approaches.