Tackling Smoking for Aboriginal Health

Overview

Smoking is a major challenge for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities. It is responsible for approximately one in five deaths in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population and more than 50% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children live with a daily smoker, which leads to secondhand smoke exposure. Despite government funding and a range of programs underway to support quitting, there is still limited evidence to determine what works for people in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

We do know that support for quitting smoking needs to be comprehensive and include multiple culturally appropriate interventions, targeted to the individual smoker. Given the challenges of quitting smoking, many health practitioners wonder what they can do to help.

The following module will offer useful tips to help motivate others to quit smoking, and information about a range of quit smoking interventions like brief interventions, social media and marketing, group support, medications, and quitlines.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this module participants will be able to:

  • Understand what a brief smoking intervention is, and how it can be used in practice.
  • Be able to list common motivators for people to quit smoking.
  • Be familiar with the medications available to help quit smoking.
  • Know about social media and marketing campaigns aimed at promoting quitting smoking in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.
  • Understand the benefits of quit support groups, and characteristics that make them more successful in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
  • Identify common barriers to quitting and possible ways to overcome them.
  • Be aware of availability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander quitlines and know how to access them in practice.

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