Clinical trials in a remote Aboriginal setting: lessons from the BOABS smoking cessation study.

Background: There is limited evidence regarding the best approaches to helping Indigenous Australians to stop smoking. The composite analysis of the only two smoking cessation randomised controlled trials (RCTs) investigating this suggests that one-on-one extra support delivered by and provided to Indigenous Australians in a primary health care setting appears to be more effective than usual care in encouraging smoking cessation. This paper describes the lessons learnt from one of these studies, the Be Our Ally Beat Smoking (BOABS) Study, and how to develop and implement an integrated smoking cessation program.

The Be Our Ally Beat Smoking (BOABS) study, a randomised controlled trial of an intensive smoking cessation intervention in a remote aboriginal Australian health care setting.

Background: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Indigenous Australians) smoke at much higher rates than non-Indigenous people and smoking is an important contributor to increased disease, hospital admissions and deaths in Indigenous Australian populations. Smoking cessation programs in Australia have not had the same impact on Indigenous smokers as on non-Indigenous smokers. This paper describes the outcome of a study that aimed to test the efficacy of a locally-tailored, intensive, multidimensional smoking cessation program.

The protocol for the Be Our Ally Beat Smoking (BOABS) study, a randomised controlled trial of an intensive smoking cessation intervention in a remote Aboriginal Australian health care setting.

Background: Australian Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders (Indigenous Australians) smoke at much higher rates than non-Indigenous people and smoking is an important contributor to increased disease, hospital admissions and deaths in Indigenous Australian populations. Smoking cessation programs in Australia have not had the same impact on Indigenous smokers as on non-Indigenous smokers. This paper describes the protocol for a study that aims to test the efficacy of a locally-tailored, intensive, multidimensional smoking cessation program.

Sustaining remote-area programs: retinal camera use by Aboriginal health workers and nurses in a Kimberley partnership.

Objective: To describe how a novel program of diabetic retinopathy screening was conceived, refined and sustained in a remote region over 10 years, and to evaluate its activities and outcomes.

Design: Program description; analysis of regional screening database; audit of electronic client registers of Aboriginal community controlled health services (ACCHSs).

Setting And Participants: 1318 Aboriginal and 271 non-Aboriginal individuals who underwent retinal screening in the 5 years to September 2004 in the Kimberley region of north-west Australia; 11 758 regular local Aboriginal clients of Kimberley ACCHSs as at January 2005.

Factors affecting pain scores during female urethral catheterization.

Objectives: To compare pain and discomfort ratings of female patients undergoing urethral catheterization randomized to topical application of plain lubricant versus lidocaine gel prior to the procedure.

Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, double-blind study involving female patients requiring urethral catheterization at an urban university-based academic emergency department. A staff nurse blinded to the lubricant type injected 5 mL of sterile surgical lubricant or 2% lidocaine gel into the urinary meatus.