Fefine Tonga moe ifi tapaka: A qualitative study to explore Tongan female tobacco smoking & cessation in the Auckland region.

ABSTRACT Introduction Tongan female smokers’ smoking experiences have manifested within a realm of socioeconomic and cultural conditions in New Zealand with cessation service engagement relatively low. Due to the projected tobacco burden attributed to Pacific women, pertinent research proves vital to bettering understandings of smoking and cessation within this group. This study explored the knowledge and experiences of smoking and smoking cessation services among Tongan women aged 16 years and over, living in the Auckland region. Methods This qualitative research design utilised the Kakala model to ensure processes were culturally appropriate and meaningful. Data was collected through eight face-to-face semi-structured interviews transcribed by the researcher and employed the toli, teu and luva process from the Kakala model to form relevant themes. Findings The findings suggest smoking among Tongan females is a social vector that marks independence and maintains friendships, despite known adverse health effects and stigma. It is characterised as stress relief that has habituated into day-to-day routine for most. Their aspirations to live longer for their family is a strong motivator but quitting remains difficult and should be done autonomously by the individual. Tongan female smokers stated smoking cessation services as ineffective and need to be adapted and consulted by and within the community. Stop smoking services should encourage autonomy among Tonga women in order to improve utilisation and engagement. Service delivery for Tongan female smokers needs to be on-going and long-term support reoriented within the community for more Tongan women to become completely smokefree. Conclusions Tongan female smoking in New Zealand is comprised of experiences surrounding friendships, family and culture. This study concludes that although smoking harms are widely known, cessation service delivery can be transformed by utilizing existing Tongan cultural roles such as that of the mehikitanga (paternal aunt) to encourage non-smoking among extended female generations.

Smoking Cessation Services by Community Pharmacists: Real-World Practice in Thailand

This study aimed to report the effectiveness of community pharmacy smoking cessation services in 13 health regions in Thailand using a retrospective data-collecting method from the Foundation of Community Pharmacy database. The participants were smokers aged at least 18 years. The outcomes were the abstinence of smoking at least 30 consecutive days by self-report only and self-report with exhaled CO level <7 ppm (if available), the number of cigarettes smoked daily, exhaled carbon monoxide (exhaled CO), and % peak expiratory flow rate (%PEFR); smokers measured these outcomes before and after receiving the smoking cessation services. Of 58 community pharmacies, 532 smokers (93% male, mean age of 42.4 ± 14.9 years) received smoking cessation services from community pharmacists. Of 235 smokers with complete data, 153 (28.8%, 153/532) smokers reported smoking abstinence by self-report. The mean number of cigarettes smoked daily reduced from 15.3 ± 8.7 to 1.9 ± 3.8 cigarettes, p-value < 0.001. The exhaled CO levels of smokers significantly reduced from 11.7 ± 5.9 ppm to 7.2 ± 4.4 ppm, p-value < 0.001. The %PEFR also significantly increased from 84.2 ± 19.4 to 89.5 ± 19.5, p-value < 0.001. In conclusion, Thai community pharmacy smoking cessation services could aid smokers to quit smoking. This study is the outcome of the real-world community pharmacy smoking cessation service; policymakers should consider this service to be included in the national healthcare policy.

THE CURRENT SITUATION OF TOBACCO ATTRACTION AND FACTORS RELATED TO TOBACCO CONSULTANT SERVICES, SMOKING CESSATION SERVICES AMONG PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC LUNG DISEASE AT MEDICAL CENTER NGA NĂM, SOC TRANG PROVINCE IN 2020

Objectives: Determination rate of smoking and some related factors to the accessibility of counseling and smoking cessation services in patients with chronic lung disease at Nga Nam Medical Center, Soc Trang in 2020. Subjects and research methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study with analysis. The toolkit is based on “The Ministry of Health’s 2018 Tobacco Harm Prevention Guidelines” and related research. Results and discussions: The smoking rate of patients is 59.9%. The number of people accessing tobacco cessation counseling services is lowing with 29.9%. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that have relationship between the ability to access counseling services, smoking cessation and smoking (OR = 0.042; p < 0.005), gender (OR = 0.067; p < 0.005), occupation (p < 0.005). Conclusions and recommendations: Patients need to actively learn about the harmful effects of smoking as well as smoking cessation methods and services. The health sector needs to develop plans and provide counseling and smoking cessation services for patients. When educating, it is necessary to pay attention to the patient's psychology, gender and occupation.