Governance structure and public health provision.

Purpose: A key question in the provision of public health concerns how that provision is governed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the governance structure of a public health board and its perceived impact on the efficacy of clinical operations.

Design/methodology/approach: Structural issues examined the level of centralisation and public participation, and whether governance should occur through elected boards or appointed managers.

Comparative analysis of smoking cessation smartphone applications available in 2012 versus 2014.

Background And Aims: Smartphone applications (apps) offer a potentially cost-effective and a wide-reach aid to smoking cessation. In 2012, a content analysis of smoking cessation apps suggested that most apps did not adopt behaviour change techniques (BCTs), which according to previous research had suggested would promote higher success rates in quitting smoking. This study examined whether or not, this situation had changed by 2014 for free smoking cessation apps available in the Apple App Store.