Publications by authors named "Ryan J Courtney"

Article Synopsis
  • Significant inequalities in smoking rates exist, particularly among low-socio-economic status individuals, prompting a trial to compare tailored text-message quit support with standard Quitline services in Australia.
  • This randomized trial involves 1,246 daily smokers from low-SES backgrounds in the Sydney area, examining the effectiveness of 12 months of text-message support versus telephone support for quitting.
  • The primary outcome focuses on verifying 6-month continuous abstinence rates, assessing if the text-message program is at least as effective as the Quitline service by a small margin, along with evaluating cost-effectiveness.
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Article Synopsis
  • Brief interventions like the 5As method (ask, assess, advise, assist, arrange) are effective for smoking cessation, but there’s limited information about their impact on smokers with mental health disorders (MHDs).
  • The study analyzed data from over 1,400 smokers in Australia, comparing self-reported receipt of the 5As between those with MHDs and those without.
  • Results showed that smokers with MHDs received more support in the first four steps of the 5As, but follow-up arrangements were low for both groups, indicating a need for better follow-up to support quitting, especially for those with MHDs.
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Cytisine (CYT) is a quinolizidine alkaloid used for nicotine addiction treatment. Recent clinical trial data regarding cytisine confirm its high effectiveness and safety as a smoking cessation treatment. CYT's popularity is growing due to its increased availability and licensing in more countries worldwide.

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Background And Aims: Inadequate reporting of smoking cessation intervention trials is common and leads to significant challenges for researchers. The aim of this study was to tailor CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials)-SPI (Social and Psychological Interventions) guidelines to improve reporting of trials of behavioural interventions to promote smoking cessation.

Method: Informed by missing data from the IC-SMOKE (Intervention and Comparison group support provided in SMOKing cEssation) systematic review project, this study used a multi-stage Delphi process to examine which items could be added or modified to improve the reporting of smoking cessation trials.

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Background: With 150 centers Australia-wide, the headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation is an exemplary integrated youth health service. Headspace centers provide medical care, mental health interventions, alcohol and other drug (AOD) services, and vocational support to Australian young people (YP) aged 12 to 25 years. Co-located headspace salaried youth workers, private health care practitioners (e.

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Objective: People experiencing severe mental illness report higher rates of tobacco smoking than the general population, while rates of quitting and sustaining abstinence are considerably lower. This systematic review aimed to identify factors associated with sustained abstinence in people experiencing severe mental illness following a smoking intervention.

Method: Searches were conducted in PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus, Embase, Emcare, CINAHL and Cochrane Library from the inception of the e-databases until June 2022.

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Background: In Australia, tobacco smoking rates have declined but inequalities remain with significantly higher smoking prevalence among low-socioeconomic populations. Clinical trial data suggest vaporized nicotine products (VNPs) aid smoking cessation. Most VNP trials have used refillable tank systems, but newer generation (pod) devices now comprise the largest market share yet have limited clinical trial evidence on safety and effectiveness.

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Objectives: People suffering from mental health disorder (MHDs) are often under-represented in clinical research though the reasons for their exclusion are rarely recorded. As they have higher rates of smoking and nicotine dependence, it is crucial that they are adequately represented in clinical trials of established pharmacotherapy interventions for smoking cessation. This review aims to examine the practice of excluding smokers with MHDs and reasons for such exclusion in clinical trials evaluating pharmacotherapy treatments for smoking cessation.

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Purpose: This paper aims to determine whether a single session of a motivational interview (MI) reduces smoking relapse amongst people released from smoke-free prisons.

Design/methodology/approach: This study sought to recruit 824 ex-smokers from 2 smoke-free prisons in the Northern Territory, Australia. Participants were randomised to receive either one session (45-60 min) face-to-face MI intervention 4-6 weeks prior to release or usual care (UC) without smoking advice.

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Introduction: Aboriginal clients accessing Aboriginal community-controlled residential alcohol and other drug rehabilitation services in New South Wales, Australia believe they have better outcomes due to culturally appropriate care. However, there is a paucity of published treatment outcome data. This study aims to identify predictors of treatment outcomes based on client characteristics at intake.

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Importance: Cytisine is more effective than placebo and nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation. However, cytisine has not been tested against the most effective smoking cessation medication, varenicline, which is associated with adverse events known to lead to discontinuation of therapy.

Objective: To examine whether standard cytisine treatment (25 days) was at least as effective as standard varenicline treatment (84 days) for smoking cessation.

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Background: Relapse remains an unresolved issue in smoking cessation. Extended stop smoking medication use can help, but uptake is low and several behavioural relapse prevention interventions have been found to be ineffective. However, opportunistic 'emergency' use of fast-acting nicotine replacement treatment or electronic cigarettes may be more attractive and effective, and an online behavioural Structured Planning and Prompting Protocol has shown promise.

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Background: Aboriginal alcohol and other drug residential rehabilitation (residential rehabilitation) services have been providing treatment in Australia of over 50 years. However, there are no studies in Australia or internationally that document characteristics of clients attending Indigenous residential rehabilitation services worldwide. This is the first multi-site paper to describe key client characteristics of six Indigenous (hereafter Aboriginal Australians as the term recommended by the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of New South Wales) residential rehabilitation services in Australia.

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Background: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses (reviews) conflict regarding the efficacy and feasibility of substance disorder treatments for young people (YP). This overview of reviews, synthesizes, and methodologically assesses reviews examining substance disorder interventions for YP in outpatient settings.

Methods: Reviews published between 1990 and March 2018 were searched using EBM Reviews, PsycINFO, Embase, Ovid Medline, and Campbell Collaboration.

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Aims: To review cytisine's history of use, pre-clinical evidence, clinical pharmacokinetics, efficacy, adverse reactions (ARs) and safety for smoking cessation.

Methods: A synoptic review of the use of cytisine as a smoking cessation medication, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics and safety. Relevant literature on data included in these sections were identified through a search of 11 databases with additional literature obtained from reports and monographs.

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Background: Chronic homelessness is a problem characterised by longstanding inability to attain or maintain secure accommodation. Longitudinal research with homeless populations is challenging, and randomised controlled trials that evaluate the effectiveness of intensive, case management interventions aimed at improving housing and health-related outcomes for chronically homelessness people are scant. More research is needed to inform programmatic design and policy frameworks in this area.

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Background And Aims: Smoking cessation medications are effective, but often underutilized because of costs and side effects. Cytisine is a plant-based smoking cessation medication with more than 50 years of use in central and eastern Europe. While cytisine has been found to be well-tolerated and more effective than nicotine replacement therapy, direct comparisons with varenicline have not been conducted.

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Introduction: Smoking remains the leading risk factor for disease burden and mortality worldwide. Heavy Smoking is often associated with poor Nutrition, Alcohol abuse and Physical inactivity (known as 'SNAP'). Australia's first prison smoking ban was introduced in the Northern Territory in July 2013.

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Aims: To examine factors associated with Quitline and pharmacotherapy utilisation in low socioeconomic status (low-SES) smokers enrolled in a smoking cessation trial.

Methods: Baseline data was used from a large-scale smoking cessation randomised controlled trial (RCT). Logistic regression models were used to examine predictors of treatment utilisation prior to entering the RCT and perceived effectiveness of past and future use.

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Background And Objectives: Despite the importance of Indigenous drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation, the knowledge supporting these services is limited. This paper aims to: (i) identify the research output related to Indigenous drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation services; (ii) classify identified studies according to their methodology; and (iii) describe key characteristics of clients and services, and critique the research methods.

Methods: A PRISMA compliant search of 10 electronic databases for studies of Indigenous drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation services from Australia, United States, Canada and New Zealand, published between 1 January 2000 and 28 March 2016, was conducted.

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Background: The social gradient in smoking rates persist with an overrepresentation of smoking and its associated harms concentrated within lower socioeconomic status (SES) populations. Low-SES smokers are motivated to quit but face multiple barriers when engaging a quit attempt. An understanding of the current treatment service model from the perspectives of treatment-seeking low-SES smokers is needed to inform the design of alternative smoking cessation support services tailored to the needs of low-SES populations.

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Background: Financial stress is a barrier to successful smoking cessation and a key predictor of relapse. Little is known about the financial situation of low-income Australian daily smokers. This study aims to describe and investigate associations between the financial functioning, tobacco use and quitting behaviours of low income daily smokers.

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