Development of extraction and detection method for fluridone in water and sediment by HPLC-UV.

Fluridone is widely used as a herbicide for controlling invasive aquatic plants such as hydrilla in surface water bodies. When applied on surface waters fluridone can attach to bed sediment, requiring rigorous extraction methods prior to analysis. Currently, very limited information exists in terms of fluridone residue detection in delta sediment.

Can social and community service organisations embrace tobacco control for their disadvantaged clients?

Issue Addressed: High smoking rates among the disadvantaged lead to inequalities in health, quality-of-life and financial well-being. Non-government social and community service organisations (SCSO) are a promising setting for tobacco control interventions targeting disadvantaged smokers.

Methods: Financial grants were provided to twenty SCSO in New South Wales to support multi-level changes in service culture, smoking related policies and cessation support between 2007 and 2009.

An evaluation of a pilot capacity building initiative for smoking cessation in social and community services: the Smoking Care project.

Introduction And Aims: New strategies are required to reach subpopulations with high smoking rates. This study reports on an evaluation of the Smoking Care intervention-a 2-year organisational capacity building strategy--for social and community service organisations (SCSOs) to provide smoking care to clients.

Design And Methods: The Smoking Care intervention consisted of: awareness raising seminars (half-day); smoking cessation training (1 day) and; nicotine replacement therapy grants (3 months).

What has fairness got to do with it? Tackling tobacco among Australia's disadvantaged.

Issue: While population wide smoking rates are falling steadily the rates remain high among the disadvantaged. The future we face is one where the differentials in smoking rates will continue to widen and will flow through to increased health inequalities.

Approach: How best to reduce smoking rates among the disadvantaged? Alongside existing population level initiatives and social policy initiatives is an urgent need for a targeted, comprehensive approach that acknowledges the serious impact of smoking on the disadvantaged.

Implementing a smoking cessation program in social and community service organisations: a feasibility and acceptability trial.

Introduction And Aims: Novel ways of accessing and engaging smokers who are socially and economically disadvantaged may help reduce socioeconomic disparities in smoking rates. This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of integrating smoking cessation support into usual care at a social and community service organisation (SCSO).

Design And Methods: One SCSO providing a Personal Helpers and Mentors program participated.

Developing cessation interventions for the social and community service setting: a qualitative study of barriers to quitting among disadvantaged Australian smokers.

Background: Smoking rates remain unacceptably high among individuals who are socially disadvantaged. Social and community service organisations (SCSO) are increasingly interested in providing smoking cessation support to clients, however little is known about the best way to assist disadvantaged smokers to quit in this setting. This study aimed to explore barriers and facilitators to quitting within the conceptual framework of the PRECEDE model to identify possible interventions appropriate to the social and community service setting.

Integrating smoking care in community welfare agencies to reach disadvantaged people: Findings from the Smoking Matters Project.

Issue Addressed: smoking rates among very disadvantaged populations groups are much higher than for the general Australian population. Smoking makes a significant contribution to the reduced health and material well-being experienced by these groups. Community service organisations have been suggested as a promising setting to provide smoking cessation support for disadvantaged people, but few initiatives have explored the feasibility of this strategy.

Delivering smoking cessation support to disadvantaged groups: a qualitative study of the potential of community welfare organizations.

Reaching disadvantaged groups for smoking cessation represents a significant challenge. Not-for-profit community service organizations (CSOs) represent a promising setting for the delivery of quit smoking support to disadvantaged smokers. However, their potential has not yet been explored.