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R Borland

Publications and source records attributed to R Borland.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

A strategy for controlling the marketing of tobacco products: a regulated market model.

OBJECTIVE: To outline a novel strategy for controlling the tobacco market. ARGUMENTS: More comprehensive controls over the tobacco market are essential and long overdue. Effective controls need to encourage the development of less harmful products; control commercial communication to ensure that potential harms are highlighted relative to any benefits; and provide mechanisms to move consumers away from tobacco use, or at least towards less harmful alternatives. Achieving this by regulating the existing industry is one strategy. This paper puts the case for an alternative: to have marketing controlled by an agency (called here the Tobacco Products Agency, or TPA) which tendered to manufacturers for product and which distributed to retailers in ways that reduce incentives to bend or break the law. The TPA would be backed by legislation that made tobacco a controlled substance with possession sale and use only allowed as permitted by the regulations, which in reality would be only as provided by the TPA. CONCLUSIONS: The overall effect of such a model, which we call a "regulated market model", would be to eliminate most of the incentives and remaining opportunities for commercial promotion of tobacco and to create incentives to encourage the development of less harmful tobacco products. Such a model preserves the competition inherent in a free market, but directs it towards the challenge of reducing the harm from tobacco use.

Harm Reduction↗
PubMed2003

Continuous tracking of the Australian National Tobacco Campaign: advertising effects on recall, recognition, cognitions, and behaviour.

OBJECTIVES: To relate Australian National Tobacco Campaign advertising to outcome measures such as smokers' awareness of and reaction to the campaign, and indicators of interest in smoking cessation. DESIGN: Continuous tracking was used to survey random cross sectional samples of the target audience via telephone interviews. Baseline measures were collected preceding each advertising phase, whereafter subjects were interviewed on a weekly basis for the entire period of each phase. Changes in outcomes could thus be inferred on a weekly basis allowing variations in advertising intensity to be monitored for effect. Three phases were evaluated variously in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide. SUBJECTS: A total of 9033 subjects aged 18-40 years were interviewed. Age and sex of the sample were evenly distributed. RESULTS: In general, it was found that the greater the media weight, the greater the recall and recognition mediated by the message of the advertisement and the creative execution-advertisements with a clear figure ground executional format appeared more memorable than those without, and health effects advertisements were more memorable than those encouraging calls to a quitline. The relationship between various communication effects and media weight was limited by the confounding of prior activities in two of the phases. CONCLUSIONS: Advertisements with clear figure ground executional formats and those illustrating health effects of smoking have high memorability. Future campaigns that are continuously tracked are recommended to systematically vary media weight, flighting schedules, and advertisement type, so as to maximise information about these variables and their interactions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Understanding how mass media campaigns impact on smokers.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the immediate impact of the 2001 National Tobacco Campaign (NTC) advertising on movement towards quitting in a broadly representative sample of smokers. METHOD: Repeated measures design with surveys two weeks apart. 1000 current smokers aged 18-40 were interviewed. 250 telephone interviews were conducted in each of Sydney and Melbourne (both unexposed at initial survey) and Brisbane and Adelaide (both exposed at initial survey) to measure frequency of negative thoughts about smoking and passive smoking, positive thoughts about smoking, and thoughts about the conduct of tobacco companies; perspective on change; and thoughts and actions about quitting. RESULTS: At the initial survey, those in regions exposed to the campaign were more advanced in thoughts about quitting. Between surveys, 33% progressed toward cessation and 21% regressed. 69% of participants reported recalling NTC advertising at follow up, which was significantly associated with greater self reported quitting activity and a greater increase in frequency of negative thoughts about smoking. CONCLUSIONS: The results show increased frequency of negative thoughts about smoking and an increase in quitting related thoughts and actions following onset of the NTC campaign. There was also evidence of sustained increase in cessation activity for a month following onset of the campaign. This all occurred in the context of considerable naturally occurring smoking cessation activity, suggesting that the challenge of campaigns in Australia is to induce progress toward quitting among people who are generally engaged with the issue at some level, rather than attempt to stimulate fundamentally new consideration of smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

The Australian tar derby: the origins and fate of a low tar harm reduction programme.

OBJECTIVE: To document the development of the low tar harm reduction programme in Australia, including tobacco industry responses. DATA SOURCES: Tobacco industry documents, retail tobacco journals, newspapers, medical journals, and Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria (ACCV) newsletters and archival records. STUDY SELECTION: Documents on the strategies and knowledge bases of the ACCV, other Australian health authorities, and the tobacco industry. RESULTS: The ACCV built a durable system for measuring and publicising the tar and nicotine yields of Australian cigarettes and influencing their development. The tobacco industry initially sought to block the development of this system but later appeared to cooperate with it, as is evidenced by the current market dominance of low tar brands. However, behind the scenes, the industry used its substantial knowledge advantage regarding compensatory smoking and its ability to re-engineer cigarettes to gain effective control of the system and subvert the ACCV's objectives. CONCLUSIONS: Replacement of the low tar programme with new means of minimising the harms from cigarette smoking should be a policy priority for the Australian government. This will require regulation, rather than further voluntary agreements, and stringent monitoring of successor programmes will be necessary.

Australia↗
PubMed2003

Understanding factors that influence smoking uptake.

OBJECTIVE: To explore relationships between patterns of smoking uptake and social context and attitudinal variables. DESIGN: Cross sectional survey. SETTING: Public schools in Tucson, Arizona and Albuquerque, New Mexico. PARTICIPANTS: 982 children in grades 6-9 (ages 11-15 years). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Items measuring smoking history, nicotine dependence and quit attempts, susceptibility to smoking in the future, smoking norms, use of other tobacco products, attitudes toward smoking, and demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Overall, 43% of children had smoked a cigarette and 57% had never used them. Ever smokers lived in social contexts with more smoking and where smoking was normative. Among never users, 25% are susceptible to smoking; these children have positive attitudes toward smoking, do not feel social pressure to stay off cigarettes, and had more friends who smoked. Among ever users, 36% were currently smoking in the past 30 days. Current users also lived in social context with more smoking and had positive attitudes toward smoking. Most users had tried to stop smoking. Only 9% of current users smoked daily; 29% had not smoked a whole cigarette. Greater cigarette consumption was associated with more favourable attitudes toward smoking. Most of past users were in early uptake: 95% had smoked less than 100 cigarettes but 49% were susceptible to smoking again. CONCLUSIONS: There is promise in differentiating subgroups among the never, past and current use of cigarettes. Susceptibility within each of these groups was associated with similar patterns of attitudes and social context. These patterns in smoking uptake need to be confirmed prospectively.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Socially cued smoking in bars, nightclubs, and gaming venues: a case for introducing smoke-free policies.

OBJECTIVE: To assess smokers' perceived effects of smoking bans in bars, nightclubs, and gaming venues on their smoking behaviour. DESIGN: Cross sectional structured interview telephone survey of a random sample of smokers. SETTING: Population survey in Victoria, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: The sample comprised 597 smokers and analyses were conducted on 409 smokers who reported patronising bars, nightclubs or gaming venues at least monthly. OUTCOME MEASURES: Two outcomes studied were socially cued smoking and readiness to quit as a result of restrictions on smoking in social venues. Respondents were identified as socially cued smokers if they reported attending bars, nightclubs or gaming venues at least monthly and said that they smoke more in these venues. The potential influence of bans in social venues on readiness to quit was measured by asking respondents if they would be more or less likely to quit smoking if smoking were banned in hotels, licensed bars, gaming venues, and nightclubs. RESULTS: Of all adult smokers, 69% attended bars, nightclubs or gaming venues at least monthly. Of these smokers, 70% reported smoking more in these settings (socially cued smokers) and 25% indicated they would be likely to quit if smoking were banned in social venues. Compared to smokers not likely to quit if there were bans, smokers likely to quit were more likely to be socially cued (odds ratio (OR) 2.64), to be contemplating or preparing to quit (OR 2.22), to approve of bans in social venues (OR 2.44), and to be aged under 30 years (OR 1.73). Compared with smokers not socially cued, socially cued smokers were more likely to be under the age of 30 years (OR 6.15), more likely to believe that there is a safe level of cigarette consumption (OR 2.25), and more likely to have previously made a quit attempt (OR 2.60). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that bans on smoking in bars, nightclubs, and gaming venues could reduce cigarette consumption and increase quitting among smokers who frequently patronise these settings. These beneficial effects are likely to be strongest among younger smokers.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Has the ban on smoking in New South Wales restaurants worked? A comparison of restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate compliance with a legislative ban on smoking inside restaurants by comparing smoking in Sydney restaurants (where it is legally banned) with smoking in Melbourne restaurants (not subject to a legal ban). DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Unobtrusive observational study of restaurant patrons, and interviews with restaurant staff, carried out by 159 volunteers. SETTING: 78 Sydney restaurants with smoke-free indoor environments (as required by legislation) and 81 Melbourne restaurants not subject to legislation preventing smoking. The study took place from 20-31 October 2000. INTERVENTION: Legislation to ban smoking in indoor areas of restaurants was introduced in New South Wales in September 2000 (about six weeks before our study). OUTCOMES: Observed incidents of smoking inside restaurants; staff attitudes to the ban; customer satisfaction as indicated by comments to staff; staff perceptions of restaurant patronage. RESULTS: No restaurant patrons were seen smoking in 78 Sydney restaurants during 156 hours of observation of 2,646 diners, compared with 176 smokers among 3,014 Melbourne diners over 154 hours of observation. Thirty-one per cent (24/78) of Sydney restaurants had experienced smokers attempting to smoke indoors after the legislation was introduced; 6% (5/78) reported instances of smokers refusing to stop smoking when asked; 79% (62/78) of restaurants had received favourable comments from patrons about the smoke-free law; 81% (63/78) of restaurant staff interviewed either supported or strongly supported the law. Since introduction of the legislation, 76% of restaurants reported normal trade, 14% increased trade, and 9% reduced trade. CONCLUSIONS: Smoke-free restaurants do not require "smoking police" to enforce bans, present few ongoing difficulties for staff, attract many more favourable than unfavourable comments from patrons, and do not adversely affect trade.

Attitude↗
PubMed2001

Reduced sun exposure and tanning in children after 2 years of a school-based intervention (Australia).

OBJECTIVE: This paper presents the results of the evaluation of measured suntan and parent-reported sun exposure in participating children after 2 years of the Kidskin study, a 5-year school-based sun protection intervention undertaken in Perth, Western Australia (1995-1999). METHODS: The study involves three groups: a control, a "moderate", and a "high" intervention group. Participants were 5 or 6 years of age at the beginning of the study. Control schools received the standard Health Education curriculum, while intervention schools received a multicomponent intervention including a specially designed curriculum. Children in the high intervention group also received program materials over the summer vacation and were offered sun-protective swimwear at low cost. At the end of the second summer, suntan was measured and parents completed a questionnaire about their child's sun-related behavior. RESULTS: Children in the intervention groups--especially the high group--were less tanned at the end of the summer; this effect was greater for the back than for the forearms. These children were also reported to have received less sun exposure and made greater use of sun protection measures. CONCLUSION: Intensive school-based interventions can reduce tanning and reported sun exposure in children.

Child↗
PubMed2001

The effectiveness of callback counselling for smoking cessation: a randomized trial.

AIMS: The development of acceptable, widely available and effective smoking cessation methods is central to public health strategy for tobacco control. We examined the effectiveness of a telephone callback counselling intervention, compared to the provision of self-help resources alone. METHODS: Participants were 998 smokers calling a state-wide "Quitline" service randomly allocated to either callback counselling or ordinary care. The callback condition consisted of a series of brief counselling calls at strategic times in addition to ordinary care. The number of calls varied according to caller needs, and most occurred generally just before the person's quit day and in the week or two after it. The service was delivered by trained telephone counsellors. RESULTS: At the 3-month follow-up, significantly more participants in the callback group (24%) reported that they were quit, compared to those in the usual care comparison group (13%). The difference in point prevalence of smoking declined to 6% by the 12-month follow-up. Using sustained abstinence there was a significant benefit of callback counselling at 12-month follow-up. Treating dropouts as smokers reduced the overall magnitude of the effects somewhat. The benefit of callbacks was to marginally increase quit attempts and to significantly reduce relapse. CONCLUSION: Our findings are consistent with those of other studies demonstrating benefits of callback telephone counselling to facilitate cessation. Such counselling provides a flexible, relatively inexpensive and widely available form of cessation service. It appears to encourage a greater proportion of quit attempts and to reduce the rate of relapse among those quitting. Further research is required to determine ways to enhance effectiveness, particularly studies of how to reduce relapse.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Knowledge, attitudes and self-care practices related to sun protection among secondary students in Australia.

The aim of this research was to ascertain changes in sun-related knowledge, attitudes and self-care practices among Australian secondary school students between 1993 and 1996. Two cross-sectional surveys of sun-related attitudes, beliefs and behavior of young people aged 12-17 years of age, were conducted in 1993 and 1996. Over 80% of adolescents at both time periods knew about the issues related to skin cancer prevention, frequency of burning and burning on cloudy days. Adolescent attitudes had shifted positively in the areas of staying inside in 1996 [relative risk (RR): 1.13; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09-1.17] and staying under shade in 1996 (RR: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.13-1.18). Desire for a moderate or dark tan was lower in 1996 (45%) than in 1993 (50%). Respondents reported that they were less likely to wear brief clothing to get a suntan in 1996 (RR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.78-0.84) and were significantly more likely to stay in the shade in 1996 (RR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.16-1.23). We conclude that there has been a shift in attitudes towards use of shade and avoidance of unnecessary exposure, and away from use of sunscreens and sunglasses. The results suggest that adolescents may be more ready to accept structural changes that move desired activities out of the sun.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

The Breast Cancer Distance Education Program: development and evaluation of a course for specialist breast care nurses.

The Breast Cancer Distance Education Program is the first tertiary-based education program for specialist breast care nurses in Australia. The program covers current treatment options, psychosocial issues, and professional development issues relating to breast cancer nursing. For the first two student intakes (n = 53), precourse, postcourse, and 3-month follow-up surveys were conducted to assess the perceived value of the course, identify any limitations, and note changes in practice that arose. Before taking the course, most of the students had experience in breast cancer nursing, but lacked confidence and hoped to learn more about responding effectively to psychosocial issues through communication, counseling, and provision of support to patients and their carers. After taking the course, the students were very positive about the course content, resources, and teaching support. They reported learning new skills for addressing psychosocial issues and symptom management arising from a diagnosis of breast cancer, stating a desire to implement these new skills. Comparison between results from the three surveys indicated that students' confidence in providing breast cancer support increased significantly in most areas of practice, and was maintained at 3-month follow-up survey. Results suggest that students met the course objectives successfully, and in most cases subsequently translated their knowledge into improved practice.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Trends in sun protection behaviour among Australian young adults.

OBJECTIVE: To study changes in sun protection behaviour, exposure and sunburn that occur from late adolescence to young adulthood. METHOD: A longitudinal design was used to survey a cohort on their sun-protection behaviour from the middle of their final year at school to more than three years after finishing school. RESULTS: Males reported higher exposure, less use of sunscreen and deeper tans than females. Yet males wore hats more frequently. People with skin that just burnt were more likely to protect themselves from the sun than people with skin that tanned. Longitudinally, the level of reported exposure and the depth of tan declined, frequency of covering up, hat wearing and sunscreen use remained unchanged, and a slight U-shaped trend was observed for sunburn. CONCLUSIONS: Young adulthood may be an important time where deteriorating trends for sun protection found in the teen years are averted. Males are at greater risk of sun exposure than females. IMPLICATIONS: It is recommended that health promotion programs capitalise on the trend of improved sun-protective behaviours during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood, with a particular focus on young men.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Public reaction to the portrayal of the tobacco industry in the film The Insider.

OBJECTIVES: To assess public perceptions of the tobacco industry and behavioural intentions for tobacco use in response to watching the film The Insider. DESIGN: Self administered pre-film survey conducted immediately before viewing and post-film telephone survey conducted within 1-5 weeks of viewing. SETTING: Two commercial cinemas in Melbourne, Australia. SUBJECTS: 323 cinema patrons were recruited before screening of target films. 182 watched The Insider, 141 watched Erin Brockovich. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects watched one of two films: The Insider which featured information about unethical conduct by the tobacco industry and negative information about the health effects of smoking, or the "control" film Erin Brockovich which had an analogous plot without anti-tobacco content. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pre-film questionnaire: assessed movie viewing habits, demographic characteristics, smoking status, attitudes towards the tobacco industry, intentions for smoking. Post-film questionnaire: assessed same attitudes and intentions plus questions on the film viewed and perceptions of smoking prevalence. RESULTS: 266 (82%) subjects completed the post-film survey. Attitudes toward the tobacco industry were unfavourable at baseline. Those who saw The Insider held more negative views of business conduct by the tobacco industry than those who saw Erin Brockovich, once pre-existing attitudes to the industry were controlled for. The Insider also appears to have promoted a short term reduction in intentions to smoke. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study suggest that if people were recurrently exposed to anti-tobacco content in movies there is potential for a more substantial and lasting impact on attitudes toward the tobacco industry and smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Slip! Slop! Slap! and SunSmart, 1980-2000: Skin cancer control and 20 years of population-based campaigning.

The Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria has been running sun protection programs for more than 20 years: Slip! Slop! Slap! from 1980 to 1988 and SunSmart from 1988 to the present. The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation has provided funding for the SunSmart program for the past 13 years. These programs have played an important role in changing the whole society's approach to the sun and have resulted in marked reductions in sun exposure. This article describes the social, political, economic, and organizational context within which these programs developed. Then 10 areas are discussed that illustrate a critical aspect of the development and implementation of this successful systemwide health promotion program. These areas focus on key aspects of the context within which the program operates and on issues that derive from the experience of implementing program strategies. In summary, the success of the two programs is described as having been built on two key foundations: the vital integration of research and evaluation, on one hand, and a strong basis of consistency and continuity, on the other.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Socio-demographic variations in smoking status among Australians aged > or = 18: multivariate results from the 1995 National Health Survey.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between socio-demographic variables and smoking status in a national sample of Australians aged > or = 18. METHOD: The data came from the 1995 National Health Survey (NHS), which was conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Information was collected from 20,165 females and 18,948 males using face-to-face interviews. The dependent variable was smoking status distinguishing regular smokers from occasional, ex-smokers and never-smokers. Multiple logistic regression was used to examine the association of smoking status with gender, age, marital status, region of residence, country of birth and three socio-economic measures. RESULTS: Analyses showed that gender, age, marital status, country of birth and socio-economic position were significantly related to smoking status. The odds of being a smoker were largest for respondents who were 20-34 years old, were not married, had a low socio-economic standing, and were born in the Middle East, southern and western Europe for men, and the United Kingdom/Ireland and western Europe for women. The results also revealed that the geographic measure of socio-economic status had a stronger association with smoking likelihood than the individual level indicators (education and income), suggesting the importance of the social environment. CONCLUSION: There is substantial socio-demographic variability in smoking status. IMPLICATION: Of groups identified as having higher smoking rates, the socio-economically disadvantaged groups have the highest priority for targeted campaigns.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Sun-safe behaviour among secondary school students in Australia.

This paper reports data on the first national survey of sun-protection measures of Australian secondary school students. A cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of 23,915 Australian school children in Years 7-12 was conducted in 1993. Students were questioned about usual sun-protection practices, beliefs about skin cancer and suntans, and sunburn history. The results showed differences in sun-protection behaviours as a function of 'year level', 'gender', 'skin type' and 'concern about getting cancer' among others. Adolescents who believe there is a lot they can do to avoid skin cancer are more likely to engage in sun-protective behaviours. Males were more likely to wear a cap, yet females tended to use sunscreen. The use of clothing to protect themselves from the sun was higher in males, yet females were more likely to stay mainly in the shade. All behaviours decreased with age. Poorer protective practices were also associated with increased sunburn, except for sunscreen use where the converse was the case. Suntan was still a desire for adolescents. While there is considerable room for improvement in the sun-protection behaviour of adolescents (particularly those in higher grades), most students usually take some precautions. However, by Year 12 (17 and 18 year olds) less than half report usually wearing a hat and just two-thirds reported usual sunscreen usage.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Improved sun protection behaviour in children after two years of the Kidskin intervention.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a school-based intervention in terms of reducing children's sun exposure and improving their use of sun protection measures. METHODS: 'Kidskin' is a five-year, school-based intervention study in Perth, Western Australia, of a cohort of children who were five or six years old in 1995. The study involves three groups: control, 'moderate' and 'high' intervention. Children in the control schools received the standard health curriculum; those in the intervention schools received a multicomponent intervention, including a specially designed curriculum. Children in the high intervention group also received program materials over the summer holidays and were offered sun-protective swimwear at a low cost. After two years, parents completed a questionnaire about their child's sun-related behavior. RESULTS: Children in the intervention groups--especially the 'high' group--were reported to have had less sun exposure. This involved covering the back more often, spending more time in the shade when outdoors and wearing a style of swimsuit that covered the trunk. There was also evidence that children in the intervention groups spent less time outdoors in the middle of the day. There was little difference between groups in the wearing of hats or sunscreen. CONCLUSIONS: Our school-based intervention improved children's sun protection, but had little effect on specific behaviours that have already been vigorously promoted. IMPLICATIONS: School-based prevention campaigns would benefit from focusing on sun protection using clothing and shade, and reducing sun exposure in the middle of the day. There may be little potential to improve hat and sunscreen use.

Child↗