Hope and sadness: Balancing emotions in tobacco control mass media campaigns aimed at smokers.

Issue Addressed: Australia has smoking prevalence of less than 15% among adults, but there are concerns that the rates of decline have stabilised. Sustained mass media campaigns are central to decreasing prevalence, and the emotions evoked by campaigns contribute to their impact. This study investigates the association between potential exposure to campaigns that evoke different emotions on quitting salience (thinking about quitting), quitting intentions and quitting attempts.

Lung cancer mortality in Australia in the twenty-first century: How many lives can be saved with effective tobacco control?

Objectives: To estimate the number of past and future lung cancer deaths that have already been averted by tobacco control initiatives in Australia, and to estimate the number of additional deaths averted under various smoking scenarios.

Methods: We predicted lung cancer mortality rates and case numbers to 2100 using a previously validated generalized linear model based on age, birth cohort and population cigarette smoking exposure. We estimated the impact of various tobacco control scenarios: 'actual tobacco control' (incorporating the aggregate effect of past and current taxation, plain packaging, mass media campaigns and other initiatives) and scenarios where 10%, 5% and 0% smoking prevalence was achieved by 2025, all of which were compared to a counterfactual scenario with the highest historical smoking consumption level continuing into the future as if no tobacco control initiatives had been implemented.

Revealing the complexity of quitting smoking: a qualitative grounded theory study of the natural history of quitting in Australian ex-smokers.

Objective: To explore the quitting histories of Australian ex-smokers in order to develop an understanding of the varied contribution of smoking cessation assistance (either pharmacotherapy or professionally mediated behavioural support) to the process of quitting.

Design: Qualitative grounded theory study; in-depth interviews.

Participants: 37 Australian adult ex-smokers (24-68 years; 15 men, 22 women) who quit in the past 6-24 months.

Measured, opportunistic, unexpected and naïve quitting: a qualitative grounded theory study of the process of quitting from the ex-smokers' perspective.

Background: To better understand the process of quitting from the ex-smokers' perspective, and to explore the role spontaneity and planning play in quitting.

Methods: Qualitative grounded theory study using in-depth interviews with 37 Australian adult ex-smokers (24-68 years; 15 males, 22 females) who quit smoking in the past 6-24 months (26 quit unassisted; 11 used assistance).

Results: Based on participants' accounts of quitting, we propose a typology of quitting experiences: measured, opportunistic, unexpected and naïve.

Australia's plain tobacco packs: anticipated and actual responses among adolescents and young adults 2010-2013.

Background: In December 2012, Australia introduced world-first legislation mandating plain packaging for all tobacco products. To date, there is very little evidence on youth responses to the changed packs.

Aim: To assess attitudes towards, and responses to, tobacco plain packs preimplementation and postimplementation.

Exposure to Internet-Based Tobacco Advertising and Branding: Results From Population Surveys of Australian Youth 2010-2013.

Background: Since legislation prohibiting tobacco advertising in traditional media, online communication platforms and social media have become one of the few avenues for the tobacco industry to promote its products to Australians. Little is currently known about the exposure of young people to these new media promotions.

Objective: To measure exposure to Internet-based tobacco advertising and branding among Australian youth, identify common formats of branding encountered, and examine the association between exposure and smoking susceptibility.

How are tobacco smokers using e-cigarettes? Patterns of use, reasons for use and places of purchase in New South Wales.

Objectives: To explore how and why tobacco smokers and recent quitters in NSW use e-cigarettes, as well as common places of purchase.

Design: The Cancer Institute Tobacco Tracking Survey is a serial cross-sectional telephone survey, with 40 interviews in NSW each week.

Participants: 2966 tobacco smokers and recent quitters (in the past 12 months) interviewed January 2014 - June 2015.

The views and experiences of smokers who quit smoking unassisted. A systematic review of the qualitative evidence.

Background: Unassisted cessation - quitting without pharmacological or professional support - is an enduring phenomenon. Unassisted cessation persists even in nations advanced in tobacco control where cessation assistance such as nicotine replacement therapy, the stop-smoking medications bupropion and varenicline, and behavioural assistance are readily available. We review the qualitative literature on the views and experiences of smokers who quit unassisted.

Why do smokers try to quit without medication or counselling? A qualitative study with ex-smokers.

Objective: When tobacco smokers quit, between half and two-thirds quit unassisted: that is, they do not consult their general practitioner (GP), use pharmacotherapy (nicotine-replacement therapy, bupropion or varenicline), or phone a quitline. We sought to understand why smokers quit unassisted.

Design: Qualitative grounded theory study (in-depth interviews, theoretical sampling, concurrent data collection and data analysis).

Exposure to the 'Dark Side of Tanning' skin cancer prevention mass media campaign and its association with tanning attitudes in New South Wales, Australia.

Melanoma is the most common cancer among 15- to 29-year-olds in Australia, with rates increasing with age. The 'Dark Side of Tanning' (DSOT) mass media campaign was developed in 2007 to influence attitudes related to tanning. This study aimed to assess recall and impact of the DSOT campaign.

Impact of Australia's introduction of tobacco plain packs on adult smokers' pack-related perceptions and responses: results from a continuous tracking survey.

Objectives: To investigate the impact of Australia's plain tobacco packaging policy on two stated purposes of the legislation--increasing the impact of health warnings and decreasing the promotional appeal of packaging--among adult smokers.

Design: Serial cross-sectional study with weekly telephone surveys (April 2006-May 2013). Interrupted time-series analyses using ARIMA modelling and linear regression models were used to investigate intervention effects.

Out of Sight and Out of Mind? Evaluating the Impact of Point-of-Sale Tobacco Display Bans on Smoking-Related Beliefs and Behaviors in a Sample of Australian Adolescents and Young Adults.

Introduction: The Australian states of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland implemented bans on tobacco pack displays at point-of-sale (PoS) in July 2010 and November 2011, respectively. This study evaluated the medium-term impact of the bans on youth.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Tobacco Promotion Impact Study, a repeated cross-sectional survey of youth (12-24 years) in NSW and Queensland conducted yearly 2010-2012 (n = 6,014).

A profile of callers to the New South Wales Quitline, Australia, 2008-2011.

Introduction: One population-level solution to smoking cessation are quitlines, telephone-based services to aid quitting. Monitoring the profile of quitline callers in a changing tobacco policy environment is important for informing future policy strategies and identifying target groups to improve the reach and impact of quitline services.

Methods: De-identified data from 43,618 new callers to the New South Wales Quitline, Australia between January 2008 and October 2011 (inclusive) were extracted from the Quitline database.

Self-reported participation and beliefs about bowel cancer screening in New South Wales, Australia.

Issue Addressed: To describe self-reported bowel cancer screening participation, beliefs and attitudes in a sample of New South Wales (NSW) adults, and to identify beliefs and demographic factors associated with self-reported bowel cancer screening participation.

Methods: This study used data from the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership Module 2, a representative population-based telephone survey. Self-reported participation in and beliefs about bowel cancer screening were measured using the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer survey of people aged 50 years and over living in NSW, Australia (n=2001).

Association between tobacco plain packaging and Quitline calls: a population-based, interrupted time-series analysis.

Objectives: To investigate whether the introduction of tobacco plain packaging in Australia from 1 October 2012 was associated with a change in the number of calls to the smoking cessation helpline, Quitline, and to compare this with the impact of the introduction of graphic health warnings from 1 March 2006.

Design And Setting: Whole-of-population interrupted time-series analysis in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory between 1 March 2005 and October 2006 for the comparator, graphic health warnings, and October 2011 and April 2013 for the intervention of interest, tobacco plain packaging.

Main Outcome Measure: Weekly number of calls to the Quitline, after adjusting for seasonal trends, anti-tobacco advertising, cigarette costliness and the number of smokers in the community.

Knowledge and beliefs about alcohol consumption, longer-term health risks, and the link with cancer in a sample of Australian adults.

Aim: This study explores knowledge and beliefs about longer-term health risks related to alcohol consumption among Australian adults.

Methods: Data were drawn from the 2009 Cancer Institute NSW Lifestyle and Cancer Survey, a telephone survey of adults in NSW. Participants (n=1255) were asked about their alcohol consumption, knowledge of the Australian guidelines (revised in 2009), and personal perceptions and beliefs about longer-term health risks from alcohol consumption.

What do we know about unassisted smoking cessation in Australia? A systematic review, 2005-2012.

Context: A significant proportion of smokers who quit do so on their own without formal help (ie, without professionally or pharmacologically mediated assistance), yet research into how smokers quit focuses primarily on assisted methods of cessation.

Objective: The aim of the present work was to systematically review recent smoking cessation research in Australia, a nation advanced in tobacco control, to determine what is known about smokers who quit unassisted in order to (1) inform a research agenda to develop greater understanding of the many smokers who quit unassisted and (2) elucidate possible lessons for policy and mass communication about cessation.

Methods: In January 2013, four e-databases and the grey literature were searched for articles published between 2005 and 2012 on smoking cessation in Australia.

When your smoking is not just about you: antismoking advertising, interpersonal pressure, and quitting outcomes.

The authors investigated the potential for antismoking advertising to generate interpersonal pressure on smokers to quit using the Cancer Institute NSW's Tobacco Tracking Survey, a telephone tracking survey of adult smokers conducted throughout the year with approximately 50 interviews per week (N = 5,448). The survey includes questions relating to recently broadcast antismoking advertisements, including whether smokers have received pressure from family and friends as a result of their seeing the advertisements. The authors conducted multivariate logistic regression analyses to predict: (a) receiving ad-stimulated interpersonal pressure; and (b) quitting outcomes.

Televised antismoking advertising: effects of level and duration of exposure.

Objectives: We assessed the effects of levels and duration of exposure to televised antismoking advertising on cognitive and behavioral changes.

Methods: We used data from a serial cross-sectional telephone survey with weekly interviews of adult smokers and recent quitters in New South Wales, Australia (n = 13,301), between April 2005 and December 2010. We merged survey data with commercial TV ratings data to estimate individuals' exposure to antismoking advertising.

The natural history of antismoking advertising recall: the influence of broadcasting parameters, emotional intensity and executional features.

Background: The necessary first steps for televised media campaign effects are population exposure and recall. To maximise the impact of campaign funding, it is critical to identify modifiable factors that increase the efficiency of an advertisement reaching the target audience and of their recalling that advertisement.

Methods: Data come from a serial cross-sectional telephone survey with weekly interviews of adult smokers and recent quitters from the state of New South Wales, Australia, collected between April 2005 and December 2010 (total n=13 301).

Tobacco promotion 'below-the-line': exposure among adolescents and young adults in NSW, Australia.

Background: Exposure to tobacco advertising and promotion increases the likelihood of smoking amongst young people. While there is a universal ban on traditional or ‘above-the-line’ advertising in Australia, the types and extent of exposure of young people to ‘below-the-line’ tobacco advertising and promotion is largely unknown. In this study we aim to identify levels of exposure of New South Wales (NSW) adolescents and young adults to tobacco promotion at the point-of-sale (PoS), on the internet, in entertainment media and at venues such as events or festivals and pubs, clubs, nightclubs, or bars; and to identify those most at risk of exposure.

Tobacco in the news: associations between news coverage, news recall and smoking-related outcomes in a sample of Australian smokers and recent quitters.

This paper aims to track smokers' and recent quitters' recall of tobacco news, compare patterns of recall with patterns of news coverage and assess associations between news recall and smoking-related cognitions and behaviours, by using a quantitative analysis. The Cancer Institute New South Wales (NSW)'s Tobacco Tracking Survey, a continuous tracking telephone survey of adult smokers and recent quitters, was used to monitor recall of tobacco news and smoking-related cognitions and behaviours from January to September 2010 (approximately 50 interviews per week; n = 1952). Thirty per cent of respondents reported semi-prompted recall of tobacco news with patterns of recall closely following peaks in news coverage.

Impact of the 2010 tobacco tax increase in Australia on short-term smoking cessation: a continuous tracking survey.

Objective: To use population-level data to monitor the impact on smoking cessation activity of the April 2010 Australian tobacco tax increase.

Design And Setting: The Cancer Institute NSW [New South Wales] Tobacco Tracking Survey (CITTS) is a continuous tracking telephone survey conducting about 50 interviews per week. Data from February to September in 2009 and 2010 were analysed (ie, data on people who quit smoking in the 3 months before and 5 months after the tax increase in 2010 were compared, and quitting activity over the same period in 2009 was also analysed).