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
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.
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
New Consumer Warnings To Counter Reassurance Based Tobacco Marketing
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$974,713.00
Summary
This research will use consumer feedback to develop warnings about tobacco product attributes (e.g. cigarette filters, ‘smooth’ taste) that mislead smokers about the harms of smoking. We will assess smokers’ responses to these warnings, compared to current warnings on tobacco. The study will use a survey, group discussions, rating scales and an experiment with a follow-up to determine warnings with the greatest potential to correct persistent faulty beliefs about the harms of smoking.
Defining The Clinical Role Of Topiramate In The Treatment Of Alcohol Dependence In Australia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$718,836.00
Summary
We urgently require new strategies for the treatment of alcohol dependence. The effectiveness of currently approved alcohol medications is limited. Emerging data suggests that topiramate has robust effectiveness and that better medicine selection is possible for patients based on their genotype. We propose to conduct a double-blind randomised controlled trial to examine the clinical and cost effectiveness of topiramate using a genetically based personalised approach.
Social Media To Enhance Indigenous Tobacco Control
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$922,680.00
Summary
Smoking prevalence among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is more than twice as high as the overall Australian population, and smoking is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity of Indigenous Australians. Accelerating the decline in smoking prevalence is an urgent priority to Close The Gap in health outcomes. The aim of this project is to understand how social media can be harnessed to enhance the impact of proven tobacco control strategies among Indigenous Australians.
Planning, Timing And Quit Success: A Randomised Controlled Trial
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$448,108.00
Summary
The aim of this project is to better understand how quit smoking interventions should be structured to maximise effectiveness; should smokers be encouraged to quit immediately to capitalize on the motivation that caused them to seek help, or first spend time planning, and can the planning be done after quitting? The answers will inform the design and delivery of smoking cessation programs, and potentially programs for other hard-to-change behaviours.
Toward A Comprehensive Picture Of The Epidemiology Of Alcohol And Illicit Drug Use Disorders: Novel Analyses Of The World Health Organization's World Mental Health Surveys
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$734,155.00
Summary
Alcohol and illicit drug use are among the biggest risk factors for disease burden, but there is much that is not known about the natural history of substance use. This study involves analysis of data from the WHO World Mental Health Survey (WMHS) initiative, which contains data on >160,000 participants from more than 31 countries. This study will examine the patterns and predictors of substance use problems, using novel statistical techniques predict who is at greatest risk.
Enhancing Extinction Of Alcohol-Predicitve Stimuli Through Modulation Of Noradrenergic Signaling
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,508.00
Summary
A major obstacle for alcohol-abuse treatment is the high risk of relapse and stimuli previously paired with alcohol use contribute importantly to this risk. Reducing the ability of such stimuli to trigger alcohol-seeking behaviors could significantly improve treatment outcomes. The experiments in the current proposal will develop both behavioral and pharmacological strategies for improving extinction learning with the long term goal of reducing the ability of stimuli to elicit alcohol-seeking.
Investigating The Relationships Between Alcohol And Other Drug Use, Mental Health, Early-life Factors And Life-course Outcomes: Integrative Analyses Of Data From Four Australasian Cohort Studies
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$448,198.00
Summary
The current study will use a highly innovative approach to pool data from four large and long-running Australasian cohort studies to better understand the developmental precursors and psychosocial consequences of teen drinking behaviours. Findings will provide dramatically improved knowledge of the developmental pathways to teen and young adult drinking and a clearer picture of the total burden of disease attributable to alcohol in an Australasian setting.