Back To News Releases
Consumer Demand for Quit Smoking Resources Could Increase Number of Quitters in America
2/26/2010
American Journal of Preventive Medicine Supplement Outlines Importance of Consumer Demand in Improving Policies, Resources to Help Smokers Quit
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A special supplement to the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, out today, could help reduce the number of adult smokers in America, by thinking of smokers as consumers, and moving them “from the periphery to center stage in designing and implementing tobacco control policies and treatments.” The supplement comes from public health leaders from Legacy, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health.
“Reaching more smokers, especially low income smokers, with effective treatments holds enormous untapped potential for reducing the nation’s adult tobacco use— the single greatest cause of preventable death and disease, and a major contributor to preventable healthcare burden and health disparities,” said C. Tracy Orleans, PhD, Senior Scientist with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a guest editor and author of the supplement.
This supplement comes after a year of sweeping policy changes related to tobacco prevention and cessation. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco and the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act resulted in the largest federal tobacco tax increase in the nation’s history. These two pieces of legislation, combined with increased smoke-free laws on the state and local level and many other factors, create an environment in which it will be easier for people to successfully quit smoking. However, to maximize the impact of these policies, it is critical to pay close attention to the needs of smokers, with a particular focus on whether evidence-based treatments are affordable, accessible and easy to use. This supplement outlines how the tobacco control community can help “connect the dots” for the consumer, by linking policy with treatment practice in ways that will increase demand for effective cessation services.
“The 2009 legislation authorizing FDA regulation of tobacco products and their marketing gives us an unprecedented opportunity to integrate public health and clinical approaches, and unleash the previously untapped potential to apply a consumer perspective and a comprehensive systems integrative strategy to increase treatment use and decrease tobacco use,” said Dr. David Abrams, Executive Director of the Steven A. Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at Legacy, and guest editor and author of the supplement.
Supplement guest editor and author Patricia L. Mabry, Ph.D., of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, has been spearheading initiatives in systems science research at NIH. She believes the supplement offers a valuable contribution because it underscores the importance of consumer attitudes and preferences when developing tobacco control interventions and demonstrates the utility of taking a broader “systems” perspective to address tobacco policy questions through modeling and simulation.
The supplement includes:
- Information about the impact of promising clinical, community and state methods to increase consumer demand for quit smoking resources
- Methods for making effective quit programs more appealing to the smokers who need them most
- Computer simulation models that examine tobacco control strategies individually and in combination and their impact on smoking prevalence over time
- Principles and directions for primary care, and state and national efforts to help institutionalize a consumer-based perspective.
LegacySM is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the national public health organization helps American live longer, healthier lives. Legacy develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as having contributed to significant declines in youth smoking; EX®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; and research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.legacyforhealth.org/.
Legacy is equipped with a VideoLink ReadyCam™ television studio system, providing journalists with faster, easier access to the nation’s leading tobacco prevention and cessation experts. From this in-house broadcast studio, Legacy can offer immediate access to its experts to comment on breaking news, new research publications, or any news related to youth smoking prevention, adult quit smoking programs, or any issue related to smoking. The studio is connected directly to the Vyvx fiber network and is always available for live or pre-taped interviews. To arrange an interview, please contact Julia Cartwright at 202-454-5596.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the quality of the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful, and timely change. For more than 35 years, the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime.
The National Institute of Health’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) opened officially on July 1, 1995. The U.S. Congress established the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) in the Office of the Director, NIH, in recognition of the key role that behavioral and social factors often play in illness and health. The OBSSR mission is to stimulate behavioral and social sciences research throughout NIH and to integrate these areas of research more fully into others of the NIH health research enterprise, thereby improving our understanding, treatment, and prevention of disease. For more information, please visit http://obssr.od.nih.gov/.
###
Contact: Julia Cartwright 202-454-5596, jcartwright@legacyforhealth.org