Association between employer's knowledge and attitude towards smoking cessation and voluntary promotion in workplace: a survey study.

Background: Workplace smoking cessation (SC) intervention is effective in increasing quit rate but little was known about the factors associated with voluntary SC promotion. Comprehensive smoke-free legislation, including banning smoking in all indoor area of workplaces, has been enforced in Hong Kong. This survey investigated the prevalence of company's compliance with smoke-free legislation and examined the relation between voluntary SC promotion in workplace and employer's knowledge of and attitude towards smoking and SC.

Economic Costs Attributable to Smoking in Hong Kong in 2011: A Possible Increase From 1998.

Background: Reduction in smoking prevalence does not necessarily reduce the costs of smoking as evidence shows in developed countries. We provide up-to-date estimates for direct and indirect costs attributable to smoking in Hong Kong in 2011 and compare with our 1998 estimates.

Methods: We took a societal perspective to include lives and life years lost, health care costs and time lost from work in the costing.

A Community-Based Intervention Program to Enhance Family Communication and Family Well-being: The Learning Families Project in Hong Kong.

Background: Family communication is important to maintain family relationships and family well-being. To enhance family communication and family well-being, a community-based "Learning Families Project," based on the social ecological model was developed in Kwun Tong in Hong Kong, a district with high prevalence of family problems.

Methods: This quasi-experimental study included two nearby government subsidized low-rent housing estates separated by busy main roads, as the intervention [Tsui Ping (South) Estate] and control (Shun Tin Estate) estate.

Intervention With Brief Cessation Advice Plus Active Referral for Proactively Recruited Community Smokers: A Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Most smoking cessation (SC) clinics are costly, passive, and underused.

Objective: To compare the SC effect of a combined intervention involving brief, model-guided SC advice plus active referral to SC services (active referral group) with those of brief, model-guided SC advice only (brief advice group) and general SC advice only (control group).

Design, Setting, And Participants: A single-blind, 3-arm, pragmatic cluster randomized clinical trial was conducted including 1226 adult daily smokers in the general Hong Kong community proactively recruited to participate in the Quit-to-Win Contest held in 2015.

Associations of perceived interparental relationship, family harmony and family happiness with smoking intention in never-smoking Chinese children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To examine the associations of perceived interparental relationship, family harmony and family happiness with smoking intention in never-smoking Chinese children and adolescents in Hong Kong.

Design, Settings And Participants: Cross-sectional surveys of 15 753 primary (grades 4-6) and 38 398 secondary (grades 7-12) never-smoking students from 71 to 75 randomly selected primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, 2012-2013.

Measurements: Outcome variable was smoking intention which denoted any affirmative response to smoke within the coming year or when a cigarette was offered by a good friend.

Promoting smoking cessation in China: a foot-in-the-door approach to tobacco control advocacy.

Introduction: The Chinese government's implementation of the MPOWER policies and compliance with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control requirements has been slow. We used the 'foot-in-the-door' approach to promote tobacco control advocacy through capacity building of healthcare leaders, and establishment of smoking cessation clinics in Guangzhou and Beijing (two of the largest cities in China).

Methods: This collaborative pilot project involved the University of Hong Kong and three major hospitals in Guangzhou and Beijing.

Development and evaluation of a training workshop for lay health promoters to implement a community-based intervention program in a public low rent housing estate: The Learning Families Project in Hong Kong.

Unlabelled: This paper presents the development and evaluation of the train-the-trainer (TTT) workshop for lay resident leaders to be lay health promoters. The TTT workshop aimed to prepare the trainees to implement and/or assist in conducting a series of community-based family well-being activities for the residents in a public low rent housing estate, entitled "Learning Families Project", under the FAMILY project. The four-hour TTT workshop was conducted for 32 trainees (72% women, 43% aged ≥ 60, 41% ≤ elementary school education).

A community based intervention program to enhance neighborhood cohesion: The Learning Families Project in Hong Kong.

Background: Neighborhood cohesion, which refers to the extent of the connectedness and solidarity among residents in a community or neighborhood, is an important determinant of human health. To enhance neighborhood cohesion, the "Learning Families Project" was developed with a series of intervention programs in Kwun Tong in Hong Kong, a district with low neighborhood cohesion. This project, based on the social ecological model, provided a platform for neighbors to learn, communicate and interact with each other.

A Brief Smoking Cessation Advice by Youth Counselors for the Smokers in the Hong Kong Quit to Win Contest 2010: a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Smoking cessation counseling by healthcare professionals is effective, but very few healthcare professionals can deliver these interventions in the busy clinical settings. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief smoking cessation advice delivered by briefly-trained youth counselors at the enrolment of an incentive-based smoking cessation campaign. The study design was a cluster 2-arm randomized controlled trial of 831 Chinese adult smokers who were recruited in public areas to participate in the Hong Kong Quit to Win Contest 2010.

An Evaluation of a Train-the-Trainer Workshop for Social Service Workers to Develop Community-Based Family Interventions.

Introduction: Evaluation studies on train-the-trainer workshops (TTTs) to develop family well-being interventions are limited in the literature. The Logic Model offers a framework to place some important concepts and tools of intervention science in the hands of frontline service providers. This paper reports on the evaluation of a TTT for a large community-based program to enhance family well-being in Hong Kong.

Public Support for Electronic Cigarette Regulation in Hong Kong: A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

This study aimed to gauge the Hong Kong's public support towards new e-cigarette regulation, and examine the associated factors of the support. We conducted a two-stage, randomized cross-sectional telephone-based survey to assess the public support towards the banning of e-cigarette promotion and advertisement, its use in smoke-free venues, the sale to people aged under 18, and regulating the sale of nicotine-free e-cigarettes. Adults (aged 15 years or above) who were never smoking ( = 1706), ex-smoking ( = 1712) or currently smoking ( = 1834) were included.

Feasibility, Efficacy, and Cost Analysis of Promoting Smoking Cessation at Outdoor Smoking "Hotspots": A Pre-Post Study.

Introduction: To motivate smokers to quit, there is a need for enhanced smoking cessation (SC) recruitment and for innovative and proactive approaches to SC. This study evaluated the feasibility, efficacy, and cost of promoting SC in public outdoor areas where smokers gather to smoke (smoking hotspots).

Methods: We selected 14 smoking hotspots in Hong Kong for SC promotion in 2015.

Very brief physician advice and supplemental proactive telephone calls to promote smoking reduction and cessation in Chinese male smokers with no intention to quit: a randomized trial.

Background And Aims: There is inconsistent evidence that behavioural support to promote smoking reduction is effective at increasing smoking cessation. We examined the effectiveness of brief physician advice together with four very brief telephone calls in promoting smoking cessation among Chinese men via reduction compared with equivalent advice on diet and exercise.

Design: A two-group pragmatic randomized controlled trial.

Age at menarche and cardiovascular risk factors using Mendelian randomization in the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study.

Observational studies show earlier age at menarche associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease although these studies could be confounded by childhood obesity or childhood socioeconomic position. We tested the hypothesis that earlier age at menarche is associated with poorer cardiovascular risk factors using a Mendelian randomization design. We conducted a Mendelian randomization study in a large Southern Chinese cohort, the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study (n=12,279), to clarify the causal role of menarche in cardiovascular disease risk factors including blood pressure, lipids, fasting glucose, adiposity and type 2 diabetes.

Health App Possession Among Smartphone or Tablet Owners in Hong Kong: Population-Based Survey.

Background: Health apps are increasingly used with important implications for health. Hong Kong is one of the most technologically advanced and connected cities-smartphone ownership and Internet access rates are among the highest in the world.

Objective: We investigated the prevalence of health app possession and related sociodemographic factors and health behaviors among smartphone or tablet owners in Hong Kong.

Exploring Community Stakeholders' Perceptions of the Enhancing Family Well-being Project in Hong Kong: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Community engagement is a powerful tool in bringing about positive social and community change. Community stakeholders possess critical experience and knowledge that are needed to inform the development of community-based projects. However, limited literature is available on the practical experience involved with planning and implementing community-based family programs.

Associations of unhappiness with sociodemographic factors and unhealthy behaviours in Chinese adolescents.

Evidence on the effects of lack of physical exercise, alcohol drinking and smoking on happiness is limited and inconsistent. We examined the associations of unhappiness with sociodemographic factors and these unhealthy behaviours in Chinese adolescents. In a school-based survey in 2012-13 in Hong Kong, 45 857 secondary school students (mean age 14.

Electronic cigarette use is not associated with quitting of conventional cigarettes in youth smokers.

BackgroundTo investigate the association between electronic cigarette (e-cig) use and smoking cessation among smokers who called the Youth Quitline in Hong Kong.MethodsThis longitudinal study collected data on youth smokers' (N=189) use and perception of e-cigs, conventional cigarette smoking behavior, and sociodemographic characteristics at baseline. Self-reported past 7-day point prevalence of abstinence (PPA) was assessed in the 6-month telephone follow-up.

Proactive outreach smoking cessation program for Chinese employees in China.

We evaluated the first workplace intervention to help smokers quit in Hong Kong. Smoking employees (N = 642) received a 26-page self-help booklet and 15 fix SMS within 3 months and chose to receive cognitive behavioral workshop (N = 76), or face-to-face counseling (N = 11), or group health talk (N = 516), or telephone counseling (N = 39). Twenty participants were interviewed individually for their opinions about the interventions.

Development and Evaluation of a Train-the-Trainer Workshop for Hong Kong Community Social Service Agency Staff.

Introduction: Capacity building approaches are useful in large-scale community-based health promotion interventions. However, models to guide and evaluate capacity building among social service agency staff in community settings are rare in the literature. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a 1-day (7 h) train-the-trainer (TTT) workshop for the "Enhancing Family Well-Being Project".

Brief Advice on Smoking Reduction Versus Abrupt Quitting for Smoking Cessation in Chinese Smokers: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Aims: To compare the efficacy of brief advice about cut-down-to-quit (CDTQ) with that of brief advice about quit immediately (QI), as delivered by trained volunteers, without the use of pharmacological therapy, to outreach-recruited Chinese smokers in Hong Kong who intend to quit smoking.

Methods: Smokers (N = 1077) who enrolled in the Quit and Win Contest 2014 and intended to quit or reduce smoking were randomized in participation sessions to CDTQ (n = 559) and QI (n = 518) groups. Subjects in the CDTQ group received brief advice and a card about smoking reduction.

An Evaluation of the Youth Quitline Service Young Hong Kong Smokers.

Purpose: The psychological and social factors associated with smoking initiation and continuation are different for young and adult smokers. Before 2005, there were no population-based smoking cessation interventions targeting young smokers in Hong Kong, China. This study describes the processes and outcomes of an individualized "Youth Quitline" service for young Hong Kong Chinese smokers over a 10-year period.