NAQC News
Seeking Nominations for the NAQC Advisory Council!
NAQC will be adding up to 5 new members to its Advisory Council for terms beginning on July 1, 2011. The Advisory Council is a leadership group that provides strategic and program guidance to NAQC staff. It meets four times a year, twice in-person and twice by conference call. If you are interested in serving on the Advisory Council, please submit your name and contact information to NAQC@NAQuitline.org by April 22. A list of current Advisory Council members is available here.
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Change to the Seminar Series Calendar!
Please note that the dates for the seminar, “How can states support health plans prepare for healthcare reform? How are quitlines a critical piece of the puzzle?”, have changed from June 8thand 10th to May 4th(3:30-5PM ET) and 6th (12:30-2PM ET).
State tobacco programs are playing an ever-increasing role in ensuring comprehensive implementation of federal legislation requirements for tobacco cessation coverage. Join us as Colorado describes their efforts to engage health plans in the assessment of barriers to implementation and the development of solutions.
» register today
Membership Drive FY12!
NAQC’s membership drive for fiscal year 2012 began on March 2nd. You may take advantage of the early bird renewal special if you renew by May 31st. To avoid lapse in your membership benefits, please submit payment for your dues by July 1, 2011 (payments are accepted in a form of a check, credit card payment, and online renewal). Please refer to the membership page for more information.
For questions regarding membership, please contact Natalia Gromov at 800-398-5489 ext 701 or membership@naquitline.org.
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New NAQC Research Conference Call Series: Research “Coffee Breaks”!
The first NAQC “Coffee Break” research call launched on Thursday, April 14. Bruce Baskerville, Senior Scientist at the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact presented on “Methods to Evaluate the Impact of a Quitline Number on Cigarette Packages.” To view Dr. Baskerville’s slides or listen to an audio recording of the call, go to NAQC’s research call page.
Future calls will aim to:
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Serve as an informal forum to discuss current, upcoming, and potential quitline-related research;
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Facilitate communication and interaction between researchers;
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Create and support connections between researchers and quitlines.
Calls take a “coffee break” format: they are 30 minutes in length, with 10-15 minutes of presentation and the remaining time reserved for questions and discussion. Calls take place on the second Thursday of each month from 2:00-2:30 p.m. Eastern time (11-11:30 Pacific time). The next call will be on Thursday, May 12. The topic will be determined shortly. To nominate a speaker or topic (including self-nominations) please contact Jessie Saul (jsaul@naquitline.org). Call-in information and all call materials can be found on the research calls page of the NAQC website
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Tobacco Control
American Legacy Lung Cancer Screening Videos!
A new four-segment “ask-the-expert” video series, available online at BecomeAnEX.org, is devoted to helping smokers understand their risks for lung cancer. Legacy, through an unrestricted educational grant from Genentech, developed the videos and related resource materials to educate former and current smokers on the lung cancer screening process. The videos feature Dr. James Mulshine of Rush University Medical Center and real-life patients: one who asks questions about CT spiral scans and the other who shares his firsthand experience. A companion online discussion group in the EX Community is also available for cancer survivors who are quitting smoking.
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New JAMA Study Points to Need for Tobacco Control Policies, Including Comprehensive Programs!
!A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrates that California has reduced overall smoking and high intensity smoking much faster than the rest of the country because it has put in place those policies and programs proven to reduce tobacco use – the nation’s longest running prevention and cessation program, the nation’s first statewide smoke-free law, and in earlier years, higher tobacco taxes.
This study presents a terrific opportunity to demonstrate to the media and decision-makers that comprehensive tobacco prevention and cessation programs are wise investments that save lives and health care dollars. You can also use this study to educate the media, policymakers and other audiences about the benefits of other tobacco control policies like smoke-free laws
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Grid-Enabled Measures Database (GEM) - NCI Website of Behavioral and Social Science Measures!
Developed by the National Cancer Institute at NIH, GEM is a grid-enabled, interoperable, dynamic website of behavioral and social science measures. On this website, researchers have the ability to
search, download, submit and provide feedback on measures.
The purpose of GEM is to provide a resource that enables researchers to:
-Use standardized, vetted measures; and
-Share data that results from using these measures, thereby facilitating transdisciplinary research through prospective meta-analyses.
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National Program of Cancer Registries Released!
CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control is pleased to announce the early release of National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) cancer incidence data for the years 1999–2008 to facilitate cancer control planning. The data are available through CDC WONDER at http://wonder.cdc.gov/cancer.html.
CDC WONDER is an online query system that produces age-adjusted and crude rates in tabular, map, and chart formats. Variables include year of diagnosis, state, region or division of the United States, sex, race, ethnicity, age, primary site, and childhood cancer.
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Research
Quitline Networking Between the US and Canada: The Ties That Bind.
Findings from the 2009 KIQNIC survey show that there are two distinct sub-networks within the North American quitline community: the American quitlines tend to communicate almost exclusively with other American quitlines, and the Canadian quitlines tend to communicate almost exclusively with other Canadian quitlines. The NAQC central office plays an important role in bridging communications across the two countries, but if you remove the NAQC office from the network diagrams, there are few links between Canada and the US.
What does this mean for our network of quitlines? According to Dr. Scott Leischow of the University of Arizona Cancer Center and KIQNIC’s principal investigator, “Findings like this structural gap in the network can be important. Typically, when you develop a network like NAQC, you want to ensure that there are enough communication ties to make the network robust. If a few key members of the network are removed, it could prove difficult for information sharing to continue across the US/Canada border".
“Members will have an opportunity to look at network maps that illustrate this finding in an upcoming webinar, and perhaps talk about whether or not it would be worthwhile to intentionally build some additional ties between our two countries to potentially strengthen the overall network.”
Interestingly, most of the links between the two countries are through the quitlines that scored highest on the survey question that asked, “Which state or provincial quitlines, other than your own, do you most admire for doing an especially good job regarding tobacco quitline activities?”The KIQNIC research team will be exploring other variables to see if those highly admired quitlinesshare any common characteristics, e.g. they happen to spend more per smoker than other quitlines, their service providers are of a certain type (e.g. serve a large number of states/provinces, or affiliated with a university, and so on).
Please look for an e-mail announcement with dates and details on the upcoming KIQNIC webinars. To learn more, visit the KIQNIC page on our website, or contact Project Coordinator Gregg Moor.
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Promoting Tobacco Cessation via the Workplace: Opportunities for Improvement.
Hughes MC, Yette EM, Hannon PA, Harris JR, Tran NM, Reid TR. Tob Control. 2011 Apr 6. [Epub ahead of print]
This study analyzed data from the 2008 Healthy Worksite Survey to describe workplaces’ implementation of tobacco cessation practices and identify factors that predicted implementation. Among employers with 50 or more employees, 38.6% promoted quitting tobacco, 33.8% offered insurance coverage for cessation medications and counseling, 27.5% referred violators of smoking bans to cessation services, and only 5.7% included the state-sponsored quitline in health promotion messages. Larger workplaces and those with a wellness staff had greater promotion of the quitline. The findings indicate that workplaces do little to promote tobacco cessation by employees The authors conclude that targeting businesses without wellness staff is an opportunity for finding and reaching current smokers in businesses with limited resources. They also note that inexpensive prevention efforts, such as promoting the quitline, can improve employee health and lower medical costs.
Prevalence of Heavy Smoking in California and the United States, 1965-2007.
Pierce JP, Messer K, White MM, Cowling DW, Thomas DP. JAMA. 2011;305(11):1106-1112.
This study demonstrates that California has reduced overall smoking and high intensity smoking much faster than the rest of the country because it has put in place those policies and programs proven to reduce tobacco use – the nation’s longest running prevention and cessation program, the nation’s first statewide smoke-free law, and in earlier years, higher tobacco taxes. Findings indicate that between 1965 and 2007, the prevalence of high-intensity smoking decreased greatly in the United States. The greater decline in high-intensity smoking prevalence in California was related to reduced smoking initiation and a probable increase in smoking cessation. This study presents an opportunity to demonstrate to the media and decision-makers that comprehensive tobacco prevention and cessation programs are wise investments that save lives and health care dollars. Tobacco control advocates can also use this study to educate the media, policymakers and other audiences about the benefits of other tobacco control policies like smoke-free laws.
Awareness and Use of Tobacco Quitlines: Evidence From the Health Information National Trends Survey.
Kaufman A, Augustson E, Davisc K, Finney Rutten LJ. Journal of Health Communication, 15: S3, 264 — 278. URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2010.526172 .
This study analyzed data from the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey to identify factors associated with awareness and use of telephone quitlines for smoking cessation. Results indicated that 50% of respondents (65% of current smokers) were aware of quitlines, but that only 3.5% of respondents (9% of current smokers) had called a quitline. Factors related to quitline awareness included age, ethnicity, education, looking for health information, and having more trust in the government. Current smoking status was strongly associated with quitline use. The article discusses implications and future research directions.
Smoking Cessation: Next Steps for Special Populations Research and Innovative Treatments.
Borrelli B. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology © 2010 American Psychological Association 2010, Vol. 78, No. 1, 1–12.
This article proposes a definition of “special populations” of smokers, including that they have a) 10% higher smoking prevalence than the general population, b) disproportionate tobacco-related health disparities, c) less access to treatments, and d) a lack of prospective longitudinal treatment trials. The author outlines criteria we can use to determine whether an intervention should be adapted for special populations, including differences from the general population in a) rates and patterns of smoking, b) burden of tobacco-related health diseases, c) predictors of smoking behavior, d) risk factors for treatment failure, e) protective factors that facilitate quitting, f) treatment engagement, g) treatment response, and h) perceived social validity of the treatment. Finally, the article outlines a process for achieving a cultural adaptation of an intervention. The author concludes that these considerations could help to jump-start stalled cessation rates.
Announcements
Webinar: Multi-State Collaborative - Meaningful Use!
Presenters will review the HITECH Act and key agencies at the federal and state level responsible for implementing the HITECH Act and for assisting providers to adopt certified electronic software. Participants will be introduced to Meaningful Use core and optional measures and the provider groups eligible for Medicaid and Medicare Meaningful Use incentives. Details will be provided on the tobacco-specific measures and the important role that quitline referral services may play in addressing tobacco use measures. Potential barriers to implementation will be discussed. The webinar will conclude with an assessment of the potential impact of meaningful use tobacco measures on reductions in tobacco use and health improvement.
Below is the webinar information:
Meaning MMeaningful Use, Tobacco Measures... And Why These Are Important
Tuesday, April 26th 12:30 - 2:00 PM Eastern Time
Registration Link - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R9QW8MH
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NC Prevention Partners Webinar With Joint Commission!
NC Prevention Partners are hosting a webinar with the Joint Commission, which will give an update on the new measure set the Joint Commission has created forTobacco Screening and Follow-up. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, April 19th from 11am-12pm.
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UCSF Tobacco Documents Workshop!
UCSF will be hosting for the 8th time, a very popular workshop on tobacco documents that is specifically tailored to community advocates.
This year, the travel scholarships will be available. Because the travel funds are provided by Legacy, the scholarships are available for those living and working in the U.S.
The travel scholarship applications are due by April 20th, but do encourage folks to apply sooner than later.
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Save the Dates-15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) 2012!
The 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) 2012 will be held on 21–24 March 2012 in Singapore! We are a bit less than one year away from this international event and 31 May 2011 is the day to look-out for:
-Online registration
-Abstract submission
-Scholarship application
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Save the Dates - 7th National Conference on Tobacco of Health in Toronto!
The 7th National Conference on Tobacco or Health is being held in Toronto, November 1-3, 2011. Registration is already online and abstract submissions was opened on April 11, 2011.
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Find more Announcements in our Newsroom or go back to top.
Funding for Connections is provided through a contract from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank them for their support of this publication. Information and links are provided solely as a service to NAQC members and partners and do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by NAQC, nor should any be inferred.
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