Financial incentives for smoking cessation in pregnancy: randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of a financial incentive added to routine specialist pregnancy stop smoking services versus routine care to help pregnant smokers quit.

Design: Phase II therapeutic exploratory single centre, individually randomised controlled parallel group superiority trial.

Setting: One large health board area with a materially deprived, inner city population in the west of Scotland, United Kingdom.

The cessation in pregnancy incentives trial (CPIT): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Seventy percent of women in Scotland have at least one baby, making pregnancy an opportunity to help most young women quit smoking before their own health is irreparably compromised. By quitting during pregnancy their infants will be protected from miscarriage and still birth as well as low birth weight, asthma, attention deficit disorder and adult cardiovascular disease. In the UK, the NICE guidelines: 'How to stop smoking in pregnancy and following childbirth' (June 2010) highlighted that little evidence exists in the literature to confirm the efficacy of financial incentives to help pregnant smokers to quit.

Professional training to reduce children's exposure to second-hand smoke in the home: evidence-based considerations on targeting and content.

Aims: Proponents of theory-based evaluations argue that the type of evidence needed by public health decision-makers is not simply whether interventions work or not. A more fruitful approach is to understand the contexts and circumstances associated with effectiveness. This article aims: to firstly understand factors influencing professionals' practice following their participation in training that aimed to reduce children's exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) in the home via increased usage of brief interventions; and secondly to consider the implications of these factors for improving the skills of a diverse workforce.

Secondhand smoke in cars: assessing children's potential exposure during typical journey conditions.

Objective: To measure levels of fine particulate matter in the rear passenger area of cars where smoking does and does not take place during typical real-life car journeys.

Methods: Fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) was used as a marker of secondhand smoke and was measured and logged every minute of each car journey undertaken by smoking and non-smoking study participants.