Prisoners' attitudes towards cigarette smoking and smoking cessation: a questionnaire study in Poland.
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BACKGROUND: In the last decade Poland has successfully carried out effective anti-tobacco campaigns and introduced tobacco control legislation. This comprehensive strategy has focused on the general population and has led to a considerable decrease in tobacco consumption. Prisoners constitute a relatively small part of the entire Polish population and smoking habits in this group have been given little attention. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of cigarette smoking in Polish male prisoners, factors determining smoking in this group, prisoners' attitudes towards smoking cessation, and to evaluate prisoners' perception of different anti-tobacco measures. METHODS: An anonymous questionnaire including personal, demographic and smoking data was distributed among 944 male inmates. Of these, 907 men aged between 17 and 62 years (mean 32.3 years) met the inclusion criteria of the study. For the comparison of proportions, a chi-square test was used with continuity correction whenever appropriate. RESULTS: In the entire group, 81% of the subjects were smokers, 12% - ex-smokers, and 7% - never smokers. Current smokers had significantly lower education level than non-smokers (p < 0.0001) and ever-smokers more frequently abused other psychoactive substances than never smokers (p < 0.0001). Stress was reported as an important factor in prompting smoking (77%). Forty-nine percent of daily smokers were aware of the adverse health consequences of smoking. The majority of smokers (75%) had attempted to quit smoking in the past. Forty percent of smoking prisoners considered an award for abstaining from cigarettes as the best means to limit the prevalence of smoking in prisons. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of cigarette smoking among Polish prisoners is high. However, a majority of smokers attempt to quit, and they should be encouraged and supported. Efforts to reduce cigarette smoking in prisons need to take into consideration the specific factors influencing smoking habits in prisons. (+info)
If you feed them, will they come? The use of social marketing to increase interest in attending a college alcohol program.
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The authors used social marketing to design and test advertisement components aimed at increasing students' interest in attending an alcohol program focused on reaching students who drink heavily, although the authors offered no such program. Participants were undergraduate students in introductory psychology courses (N = 551). Questionnaires included measures assessing demographic information, alcohol use and negative consequences, and interest in attending an alcohol program in response to exposure to 1 of 12 systematically varied advertisements. The authors found that approximately 20% of participants across all ad types indicated some level of interest in attending the alcohol program. Students who use alcohol reported more interest in attending when an informational message was used. Of the participants offered food, 41.9% indicated the food offered in the advertisement impacted their interest in attending. Results suggest market segmentation plays a role in developing effective advertisements to recruit different groups of students based on their reported drinking behavior. (+info)
Development and evaluation of a youth mental health community awareness campaign - The Compass Strategy.
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BACKGROUND: Early detection and treatment of mental disorders in adolescents and young adults can lead to better health outcomes. Mental health literacy is a key to early recognition and help seeking. Whilst a number of population health initiatives have attempted to improve mental health literacy, none to date have specifically targeted young people nor have they applied the rigorous standards of population health models now accepted as best practice in other health areas. This paper describes the outcomes from the application of a health promotion model to the development, implementation and evaluation of a community awareness campaign designed to improve mental health literacy and early help seeking amongst young people. METHOD: The Compass Strategy was implemented in the western metropolitan Melbourne and Barwon regions of Victoria, Australia. The Precede-Proceed Model guided the population assessment, campaign strategy development and evaluation. The campaign included the use of multimedia, a website, and an information telephone service. Multiple levels of evaluation were conducted. This included a cross-sectional telephone survey of mental health literacy undertaken before and after 14 months of the campaign using a quasi-experimental design. Randomly selected independent samples of 600 young people aged 12-25 years from the experimental region and another 600 from a comparison region were interviewed at each time point. A series of binary logistic regression analyses were used to measure the association between a range of campaign outcome variables and the predictor variables of region and time. RESULTS: The program was judged to have an impact on the following variables, as indicated by significant region-by-time interaction effects (p < 0.05): awareness of mental health campaigns, self-identified depression, help for depression sought in the previous year, correct estimate of prevalence of mental health problems, increased awareness of suicide risk, and a reduction in perceived barriers to help seeking. These effects may be underestimated because media distribution error resulted in a small amount of print material "leaking" into the comparison region. CONCLUSION: We believe this is the first study to apply the rigorous standards of a health promotion model including the use of a control region to a mental health population intervention. The program achieved many of its aims despite the relatively short duration and moderate intensity of the campaign. (+info)
Socially marketed insecticide-treated nets effectively reduce Plasmodium infection and anaemia among children in urban Malawi.
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BACKGROUND: Use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) has become a central focus for the Roll Back Malaria campaign, and many countries in Africa have now embarked on large-scale public health programmes aimed at making ITNs available to those at greatest risk. However, the effectiveness of these programmes has rarely been evaluated. METHOD: We conducted a cross-sectional survey to assess the impact of an ITN social marketing programme on Plasmodium falciparum infection and anaemia among children in urban Malawi. RESULTS: Knowledge of ITNs was high; however, only 42% of the children surveyed reported to have used an ITN the previous night. Nevertheless, 17% (295/1721) of children had a positive P. falciparum smear at enrolment. Use of ITNs was associated with 52% protective efficacy against Plasmodium parasitemia. More than two-thirds of children were anaemic, yet the mean haemoglobin concentration was significantly higher in children using ITNs than in those not using nets. ITN use was associated with wealth, as poorer households were 60% less likely to use treated nets. CONCLUSION: Although ITN social marketing programmes have the potential of improving malaria control and prevention, additional efforts are required to reach those for whom even subsidized nets are still too expensive. (+info)
WHO Health Promotion Glossary: new terms.
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The WHO Health Promotion Glossary was written to facilitate understanding, communication and cooperation among those engaged in health promotion at the local, regional, national and global levels. Two editions of the Glossary have been released, the first in 1986 and the second in 1998, and continued revision of the document is necessary to promote consensus regarding meanings and to take account of developments in thinking and practice. In this update 10 new terms that are to be included in the Glossary are presented. Criteria for the inclusion of terms in the Glossary are that they differentiate health promotion from other health concepts, or have a specific application or meaning when used in relation to health promotion. The terms defined here are: burden of disease; capacity building; evidence-based health promotion; global health; health impact assessment; needs assessment; self-efficacy; social marketing; sustainable health promotion strategies, and; wellness. WHO will continue to periodically update the Health Promotion Glossary to ensure its relevance to the international health promotion community. (+info)
Strategies for fostering HPV vaccine acceptance.
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Vaccines that protect against infection with the types of human papillomavirus (HPV) commonly associated with cervical cancer (HPV 16 and 18) and genital warts (HPV 6 and 11) are expected to become available in the near future. Because HPV vaccines are prophylactic, they must be administered prior to exposure to the virus, ideally during preadolescence or adolescence. The young age of the target vaccination population means that physicians, parents, and patients will all be involved in the decision-making process. Research has shown that parents and patients are more likely to accept a vaccine if it is efficacious, safe, reasonably priced, and recommended by a physician. Widespread education of physicians, patients, and parents about the risks and consequences of HPV infection and the benefits of vaccination will be instrumental for fostering vaccine acceptance. (+info)
Twelve-month effects of Canada on the Move: a population-wide campaign to promote pedometer use and walking.
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Canada on the Move is a national campaign to promote pedometer use and walking among adult Canadians. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the initiative's impact on sufficient walking, defined here as at least an hour daily in the week prior to the survey. Data were collected via the national Canadian Physical Activity Monitor's rolling monthly sample throughout 2004. Population prevalence rates of walking were compared using Bonferroni-adjusted confidence intervals. Correlates of sufficient walking were estimated using odds ratios adjusted for age, sex, income and education. Message recall and pedometer ownership were associated with increased odds of self-reported walking. There was evidence of a campaign effect on walking behavior independent of secular trends. The increased likelihood of sufficient walking suggests an ongoing role for nationally funded public awareness campaigns. The effectiveness of health promotion to increase walking may be enhanced by combining motivational health-related messages with the dissemination and adoption of an easy-to-use tool for self-monitoring purposes. (+info)
Changes in the levels of major cardiovascular risk factors in the multi-ethnic population in Singapore after 12 years of a national non-communicable disease intervention programme.
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INTRODUCTION: The National Healthy Lifestyle Programme, a population-wide non-communicable disease intervention programme, was started in 1992. A National Health Survey is carried out every six years to evaluate the impact of this programme on the cardiovascular risk factor profile of the resident population of Singapore. METHODS: The 2004 National Health Survey (NHS 04) was a population-based survey carried out over a period of four months from September to December 2004. A combination of disproportionate stratified sampling and systematic sampling was used to select a representative sample (n=7,078) for the survey. The reference population comprised 2.4 million multi-racial Singaporeans aged 18-69 years. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were carried out on all subjects and blood samples were taken for biochemical analysis. The results were compared with those of a similar survey conducted in 1998. RESULTS: A total of 4,084 Singapore residents took part in the survey, giving a response rate of 57.7 percent. The age-standardised prevalence of hypertension (greater than or equal to 140/90 mmHg) in Singapore residents aged 30-69 years decreased from 28.0 percent in 1998 to 24.0 percent (p-value is less than 0.001) in 2004. The prevalence of high total cholesterol (greater than or equal to 6.2 mmol/L) among those aged 18-69 years fell from 26.0 percent in 1998 to 18.1 percent (p-value is less than 0.001) in 2004. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in residents aged 18-69 years in 2004 was 7.8 percent, compared to the 1998 level of 9.5 percent (p-value is less than 0.01). The level of obesity (body mass index is greater than or equal to 30 kg/sqm) increased slightly from 6.2 percent in 1998 to 6.8 percent (p-value equals 0.1627). The prevalence of daily smoking decreased from 15.0 percent in 1998 to 12.5 percent in 2004 (p-value is less than 0.001), while that of regular exercise increased from 17.0 percent to 25.0 percent (p-value is less than 0.001). Ethnic differences in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, and exercise were observed. CONCLUSION: The NHS 04 results suggest that the National Healthy Lifestyle Programme significantly decreased daily smoking, high blood cholesterol and hypertension, and increased regular exercise over 1998 levels. The results also suggest that the programme stabilised the prevalence of obesity and diabetes mellitus. (+info)