Thesis (M. Nurs.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-79).

Thesis (M.Nurs.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-55).

Thesis (M. Nurs.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-148).

Background: Women smoking is a critical world health concern. Women are special risk group of smoking because approximately 1 million women died from tobacco-induced diseases worldwide each year and this number was increasing rapidly (Wesley and Sternbach, 2008). Besides, smoking increased the prevalence of menstrual irregularity, intermenstrual bleeding, varied length of menstrual cycle, pain and discomfort during menstruation of women (McEwen, 2006). Moreover, smoking will not just affect women but their children. Smoking is related to miscarriage, bleeding, premature rupture of the membranes, premature birth, growth retard baby, still birth, birth defects (The University of Hong Kong, 2007). Researches proved that combining telephone counseling and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) are needed to help quitting smoking in women (Palmer, 2000). Quitting smoking can greatly reduce the chance of smoking associated diseases. Risk of lung cancer will be reduced by one-half to two-thirds after 10 years of abstinence and the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) will be reduced by half within 1-2 years (Lewis, 2010). Nurses are the largest group of health professionals who work with people of all ages and community settings, so they should have enormous potential in helping people to quit smoking. As a result, it is important for nurses to understand more about this combined approach for quitting smoking in women smokers and translate the research evidence to real world practice in Hong Kong. Purpose: The aims of this paper are to investigate the barriers to quit of women smokers in Hong Kong and their needs, to find out the gap between current and proposed smoking cessation services, to explore the relevant studies about smoking cessation in women smokers, to perform the quality assessment of selected studies, to summarize and synthesis the extracted data, to translate the existing data into a practice guideline that can be used in community setting for women smokers, to assess the implementation potential of the proposed guideline and to formulate an implementation and evaluation plan for the proposed guideline. Methods: A total of 7 studies focusing on quitting smoking of women smokers located in Medline (1950- ), EMBASE (EMBASE Classic + EMBASE 1947- ) and Pubmed (1950- ) were selected. Thirty-day point prevalence quit rates at 12-month follow-up was used as the major outcome indicators. After quality assessment and extracting data from the related literatures, a practice guideline will be synthesized and the implementation potential will be assessed. The guideline will be graded according to the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network system. The implementation potential of the guideline will be assessed according to: (1) the transferability of the guideline, (2) the feasibility of implementing the guideline, and (3) cost-benefit ratio of the innovation. Then, the nurse led intensive community based smoking cessation program will be developed. An effective communication with all stakeholders is important in developing a positive relationship and to gain their support throughout the implementation of the proposed innovation. Pilot test will be conducted to test the satisfaction level of the innovation among women smokers in the real world setting, to test the feasibility of the innovation in the real world setting and to measure the actual material cost and non-material cost of the innovation. Am improvement plan will be drawn after evaluating the pilot test. After implementing the innovation, three outcomes evaluations will be used to evaluate this nurse led intensive community based smoking cessation program which include patient outcome, staff outcome and system outcome. The above results will be reported within one month after the innovation. The report can act as a useful guide for running similar smoking cessation programme in the future. Conclusion: The proposed programme is recommended in the community setting to assist women smokers to quit smoking which is an important public health issue. / published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

Objective: To investigate the effect of referral to smoking cessation services from healthcare practitioner on smoking cessation rate, by comparing smoking cessation rate based on the type of intervention referred by healthcare practitioners; the person delivering referred intervention; the profession of referral source, etc. Methods and Results: Studies published between 2000 to 2013 from PubMed, Web of Science and Medline were searched against with specific keywords. A total of 449 studies were identified. 5 studies with relevant information were shortlisted and included in this systematic review. The studies were conducted in various countries, the baseline data between the intervention and control group were recorded. The results from the 5 studies were inconsistent, some of the interventions have relatively high smoking cessation rate, however, most of the interventions did not find significant difference in the rate between the intervention or control group. Discussion: Most of the studies did not find significant increase in smoking cessation rate after referral from healthcare practitioners. This result could be affected by the attitude of healthcare practitioners, the profession of referral source, the type of smoking cessation intervention referred, etc. A more thorough investigation has to be carried out to investigate the effect on the result. Referral of motivated smokers only might increase the cessation rate, raising its cost-effectiveness. Conclusion: Referral to smoking cessation programme from most types of healthcare practitioners does not increase the smoking cessation rate of smokers, exception for referral to quitline from general practitioners. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

Youth smoking is an important aspect of tobacco research as most adult smokers first experiment with and initiate tobacco use during their adolescence. Policy makers and researchers have given youth smoking issues a significant amount of attention over the last 20 years and this has led to significant reductions in youth smoking prevalence in New Zealand. More recently the decline in youth smoking prevalence has reached a plateau. Evidence now shows that while overall smoking prevalence has reduced, inequalities between ethnic and social groups has actually increased. This is an international trend. Young people living in low socioeconomic status areas and belonging to minority ethnic groups are at much higher risk of being a current smoker than their less deprived peers. A number of overseas studies have investigated the spatial relationship between aspects of the neighbourhood environment and adolescent smoking behaviour in an attempt to identify the most at risk groups. In particular the effect of neighbourhood socioeconomic status and the degree of access to tobacco outlets is believed to influence adolescent smoking behaviour. In New Zealand analysis of this type has mainly focused on adult smoking behaviour and the effect of tobacco outlet access is as yet unstudied. This study examines the effect of neighbourhood and high school socioeconomic status on adolescent smoking behaviour, attitudes and beliefs in Christchurch. Using information from the 2006 New Zealand Census, spatial variations in reported neighbourhood smoking prevalence have been examined. In addition, analysis of responses to smoking questions in the 2008 Year 10 In-depth Survey have been carried out show how school socioeconomic status can influence underlying attitudes and beliefs young people hold towards smoking and tobacco products. Spatial analysis has also been performed on the census dataset to investigate the relationship between neighbourhood access to tobacco outlets and youth smoking behaviour after controlling for neighbourhood deprivation. To supplement each of these quantitative data sources, focus group interviews were carried out at two high schools (one low and one high socioeconomic status). Findings from these interviews are presented as further insight into adolescent attitudes and beliefs towards smoking. Results of this research show that there is a socioeconomic effect at both a neighbourhood and school level on all adolescent smoking behaviours, attitudes and beliefs examined, except for smoking cessation. There is also evidence of greater access to tobacco outlets in low socioeconomic neighbourhoods but not so around high schools. Increased access to tobacco outlets is linked to increased adolescent smoking prevalence, more so among females than males, but this relationship disappeared in age groups 20 and above.

Thesis (M. P. H.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M. P. H.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Also available in print.

Thesis (BA(Hons) (Psychology)) - Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, 2006. / "October 2006". Submitted as a requirement for the degree Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with Honours, [Faculty of Life and Social Sciences], Swinburne University of Technology - 2006. Typescript.

Thesis (M.Nurs.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-89)