Quit attempts, use of smoking cessation treatments and quitting intention among treatment seekers in rural areas.

Introduction: Rural populations have higher rates of tobacco use but are less likely to use evidence-based smoking cessation treatments than urban residents. There is limited evidence on the use of smoking cessation treatments and the factors associated with their use in rural populations. This study explored quit attempts, use of smoking cessation treatments, quitting intention and associated factors among rural residents seeking smoking cessation treatment.

Exploring the potential of Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART Recovery) mutual-help groups for supporting people who use methamphetamine: A qualitative study examining participant experience of initiation and engagement.

Introduction: Improving support options for people who use methamphetamine is of critical national and global importance. The role of mutual-help groups within the treatment-seeking journey of people who use methamphetamine is unclear. Self-Management and Recovery Training ('SMART Recovery') mutual-help groups are led by a trained facilitator and support participants to work on individual goals, including, but not limited to abstinence.

"It's a big conversation": Views of service personnel on systemic barriers to preventing smoking relapse among pregnant and postpartum Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women - A qualitative study.

Background: Providing smoking cessation care has not successfully prevented women who quit smoking during pregnancy from relapsing due to multi-level barriers.

Aim: This paper explores systemic barriers to providing smoking cessation care, focusing on relapse prevention among pregnant and postpartum Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (hereafter Aboriginal).

Methods: Twenty-six interviews were conducted between October 2020 and July 2021 with health professionals, health promotion workers and managers working in Aboriginal smoking cessation across six Australian states and territories.

SMART Family and Friends: Feasibility and outcomes of a video-conference delivered intervention for families impacted by another's methamphetamine use.

Introduction: Families affected by another's substance use, including methamphetamine, experience harms to their mental and physical health. Yet, research has paid little attention to support and service needs of this population. This pilot study examines the feasibility and outcomes of SMART Family and Friends, a video-conference-delivered mutual-support group targeting families affected by another's methamphetamine use.

Five-Year Mortality Outcomes for Eating As Treatment (EAT), a Health Behavior Change Intervention to Improve Nutrition in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer: A Stepped-Wedge, Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: Malnutrition affects up to 80% of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) and is associated with higher burden of disease, poorer treatment outcomes, and greater mortality. The Eating As Treatment (EAT) intervention is a behavioral intervention previously demonstrated to be effective in improving nutritional status, depression, and quality of life in patients with HNC. This article examines the effects of the EAT intervention on 5-year mortality among participants.

A novel, multidomain, primary care nurse-led and mHealth-assisted intervention for dementia risk reduction in middle-aged adults (HAPPI MIND): study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Middle-aged multidomain risk reduction interventions targeting modifiable risk factors for dementia may delay or prevent a third of dementia cases in later life. We describe the protocol of a cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT), HAPPI MIND (Holistic Approach in Primary care for PreventIng Memory Impairment aNd Dementia). HAPPI MIND will evaluate the efficacy of a multidomain, nurse-led, mHealth supported intervention for assessing dementia risk and reducing associated risk factors in middle-aged adults in the Australian primary care setting.

Outback Quit Pack: Feasibility trial of outreach smoking cessation for people in rural, regional, and remote Australia.

Background: Tobacco smoking rates are higher in rural, regional, and remote (RRR) areas in Australia, and strategies to improve access to quit supports are required. This pilot study examined the feasibility of a smoking cessation intervention for people in RRR areas who smoke with the intention of using this data to design a powered effectiveness trial.

Methods: A randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the feasibility of a 12-week 'Outback Quit Pack' intervention consisting of mailout combination nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and a proactive referral to Quitline, compared with a minimal support control (1-page smoking cessation support information mailout) was conducted between January and October 2021.

Situational anxiety in head and neck cancer: Rates, patterns and clinical management interventions in a regional cancer setting.

Introduction: Research indicates that the immobilisation mask required for radiation therapy (RT) for head and neck cancers can provoke intense anxiety. However, little is known about the rates of this anxiety, whether it changes over a course of treatment and how it is managed in clinical practice. This study aimed to describe the rates and patterns of situational anxiety in patients undergoing RT for head and neck cancer and the use of anxiety management interventions in current clinical practice in a major regional cancer setting in New South Wales, Australia.

A systematic review of nonpharmacological interventions to reduce procedural anxiety among patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer.

Unlabelled: Procedural anxiety is a concern for a number of patients undergoing radiation therapy. While procedural anxiety is often treated pharmacologically, there is a clinical need for effective alternative strategies for patients who are contraindicated from medication use, and those who prefer not to take unnecessary medications.

Objectives: The primary objective was to assess the efficacy of nonpharmacological interventions delivered to adults with cancer, in the radiation oncology department, just prior to, or during radiation therapy, in reducing levels of self-reported procedural anxiety.

The health of people attending residential treatment for alcohol and other drug use: Prevalence of and risks for major lifestyle diseases.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease and cancers are the leading cause of mortality amongst people accessing treatment for alcohol and other drug use. The current study aimed to examine risk factors for chronic disease amongst people attending residential alcohol and other drug treatment services.

Methods: Participants (N = 325) were attending residential alcohol and other drug treatment services across Australia.

The benefits and challenges of virtual SMART recovery mutual-help groups: Participant and facilitator perspectives.

Background: COVID-19 prompted widespread transition of face-to-face mutual-help groups to virtual delivery. Current understanding of the experience of virtual mutual-help groups is limited to 12-step approaches or asynchronous groups (e.g.

Tobacco treatment incorporating contingency management, nicotine replacement therapy, and behavioral counseling for pregnant women who use substances: a feasibility trial.

Introduction: Most pregnant women with substance use problems smoke, and few will quit during their pregnancy. Tobacco treatment is often overlooked, with the focus usually placed on other substance use. Additionally, few targeted effective treatments for this group exist.

'Quitlink': Outcomes of a randomised controlled trial of peer researcher facilitated referral to a tailored quitline tobacco treatment for people receiving mental health services.

Objective: The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of a tailored quitline tobacco treatment ('Quitlink') among people receiving support for mental health conditions.

Methods: We employed a prospective, cluster-randomised, open, blinded endpoint design to compare a control condition to our 'Quitlink' intervention. Both conditions received a brief intervention delivered by a peer researcher.

Rehabilitation Support via Postcard (RSVP): A Randomised Controlled Trial of a Postcard to Promote Uptake of Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Purpose: The aim was to increase cardiac rehabilitation (CR) uptake using a novel intervention, Rehabilitation Support Via Postcard (RSVP), among patients with acute myocardial infarction discharged from two major hospitals in Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD), New South Wales, Australia.

Methods: The RSVP trial was evaluated using a two-armed randomised controlled trial design. Participants (N=430) were recruited from the two main hospitals in HNELHD, and enrolled and randomised to either the intervention (n=216) or control (n=214) group over a six-month period.

Feasibility and preliminary results of a call centre delivered continuing care intervention following residential alcohol and other drug treatment.

Introduction: To help reduce relapse rates following alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment, continuing care interventions have been recommended. Previous continuing care interventions have incorporated telephone and face-to-face sessions to help promote participant engagement. The study was conducted as a randomised controlled feasibility study and examined a call centre delivered continuing care intervention for people leaving residential rehabilitation services.

SMART recovery for youth: a small, exploratory qualitative study examining the potential of a mutual-aid, peer support addictive behaviour change program for young people.

Background: SMART (Self-Management and Recovery Training) Recovery is a mutual-aid program informed by cognitive behaviour therapy and motivational interviewing that provides support for a range of addictive behaviours. SMART Recovery has not been adapted to target young people with addictive behaviours despite the potential to overcome important barriers affecting youth engagement in other addiction programs. This study aimed to engage young people and SMART Recovery facilitators in qualitative interviews and focus groups to explore the potential of such a program and gain specific insights for its development.

Adapted motivational interviewing for brief healthcare consultations: A systematic review and meta-analysis of treatment fidelity in real-world evaluations of behaviour change counselling.

Background: Behaviour change counselling (BCC) is an adaptation of motivational interviewing (MI) designed to maximize the effectiveness of time-limited health behaviour change consultations. To improve intervention quality and understanding of treatment effects, it is recommended that evaluations of health behaviour change interventions incorporate existing fidelity frameworks (e.g.

Health risk factors in Australian Stroke Survivors: A latent class analysis.

Issues Addressed: To (i) determine the prevalence of health risk factors (physical activity, diet, alcohol, smoking, blood pressure medication use and mental health) in community-dwelling stroke survivors; and (ii) examine how these health risk factors cluster, and identify associations with physical functioning, independent living, or sociodemographic factors.

Methods: A secondary analysis of data obtained during a national randomised controlled trial. Participants had experienced stroke and completed a baseline telephone survey on demographic and stroke characteristics, health risk factors, physical functioning and independence in activities of daily living.

'Having the mask on didn't worry me until … they clamped my head down so I wouldn't move': A qualitative study exploring anxiety in patients with head and neck cancer during radiation therapy.

Introduction: More than 20% of patients undergoing radiation therapy for head and neck cancer report anxiety specifically related to the immobilisation mask, a tight-fighting mask patients are required to wear for the duration of each treatment session. However, limited research has investigated this from the patient perspective. The aim of this study was to better understand patient experiences of mask anxiety during head and neck cancer radiation therapy and to explore patient attitudes toward potential strategies that may reduce mask anxiety during this treatment.

Biofeedback Enabled CALM (BeCALM)-the feasibility of biofeedback on procedural anxiety during radiation therapy: study protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Patients undergoing treatment for cancer who require radiation therapy (RT) report anxiety specifically relating to the RT procedure. Procedural anxiety can be detrimental to treatment delivery, causing disruptions to treatment sessions, or treatment avoidance. Acute procedural anxiety is most commonly managed with anxiolytic medication.

Supporting people affected by problematic alcohol, substance use and other behaviours under pandemic conditions: A pragmatic evaluation of how SMART recovery Australia responded to COVID-19.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic prompted rapid, reflexive transition from face-to-face to online healthcare. For group-based addiction services, evidence for the impact on service delivery and participant experience is limited.

Methods: A 12-month (plus 2-month follow-up) pragmatic evaluation of the upscaling of online mutual-help groups by SMART Recovery Australia (SRAU) was conducted using The Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework.

A Latent Class Analysis of Perceived Barriers to Help-seeking Among People with Alcohol Use Problems Presenting for Telephone-delivered Treatment.

Aims: Despite the magnitude of alcohol use problems globally, treatment uptake remains low. This study sought to determine the proportion of people presenting to telephone-delivered alcohol treatment who are first-time help-seekers, and explored perceived barriers to help-seeking to understand the barriers this format of treatment may help to address.

Methods: Secondary analysis of baseline data from a randomized controlled trial of a telephone-delivered intervention for alcohol use problems.