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Canadian young adults who identify as Two Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex (2SLGBTQI+) have higher smoking rates compared to their straight cisgender counterparts. One of the reasons for this trend is the perceived social acceptability of smoking and how it relates to stress, mental health and social connections. A sequential mixed-methods study was conducted with qualitative focus groups, followed by quantitative survey data collection starting in the spring of 2020, examining perceptions of both smoking and vaping. Results demonstrate higher social acceptability of vaping compared to smoking in the study sample. Qualitative results showed a strong link between the higher acceptability of smoking and vaping with coping and social connections. Quantitative results indicated that higher smoking acceptability was more common among those who currently smoke, currently vape, are younger, live in smaller cities, identify as a person of color, with variation by gender and sexual orientation; vaping was found to be more acceptable among those who currently smoke, currently vape, were younger participants, and have some post-secondary education. This research is important for the development of prevention and cessation programs in addressing both the negative and positive dimensions affecting smoking among 2SLGBTQI+young adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the mental health and substance use challenges among many people who are Two Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and intersex (2SLGBTQI+). We aimed to identify the important correlates and their effects on the predicted likelihood of wanting to seek help among 2SLGBTQI+ young adults for mental health or substance use concerns during the pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2020–2021 among 2SLGBTQI+ young adults aged 16–29 living in two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Quebec). Among 1414 participants, 77% (n = 1089) wanted to seek help for their mental health or substance use concerns during the pandemic, out of these, 69.8% (n = 760) reported delay in accessing care. We built a random forest (RF) model to predict the status of wanting to seek help, which achieved moderately high performance with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.85. The top 10 correlates of wanting to seek help were worsening mental health, age, stigma and discrimination, and adverse childhood experiences. The interactions of adequate housing with certain sexual orientations, gender identities and mental health challenges were found to increase the likelihood of wanting to seek help. We built another RF model for predicting risk of delay in accessing care among participants who wanted to seek help (n = 1089). The model identified a similar set of top 10 correlates of delay in accessing care but lacked adequate performance (AUC 0.61). These findings can direct future research and targeted prevention measures to reduce health disparities for 2SLGBTQI+ young adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We documented the extent of point-of-sale (POS) lottery promotions in Ontario, Canada and the relationship between lottery promotions and store and city characteristics. This is the first quantitative study of POS lottery promotions. A total of 366 stores-independent and chain convenience stores, gas stations and grocery stores-were visited across 20 cities in Ontario. Data collectors unobtrusively observed the type of lottery promotions in each store and completed a data collection checklist. A lottery promotion index was created and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was conducted to examine the relationship between extent of lottery promotions and independent variables such as neighbourhood socioeconomic status and city prevalence of lottery ticket purchasing. POS lottery promotions were widespread across Ontario, with the highest level of promotion found in independent convenience stores. In the multivariable HLM model, none of the remaining independent variables remained statistically significant, except for store type. Lottery promotions are extensive at the POS in Ontario. These findings can help initiate discussions around the appropriateness and possible future regulation of this form of advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used a longitudinal design to investigate the impact of a government policy banning the display of tobacco products at the point of sale. The extent of tobacco promotions in 481 randomly selected stores was documented at 4 points in time (2005-2009). Tobacco promotions were greatly reduced after implementation of the display ban. A ban on the display of tobacco products and other signage and promotions at retail is a critical tobacco-control policy to reduce people's exposure to tobacco marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article “Keeping the Point-of-Sale Environment at the Forefront,” in a previous issue.

The article discusses a comparison study on articles that appear on tobacco-focused journals such as "Tobacco Control" and "Nicotine & Tobacco Research." Under the study, 2,050 articles published in 2000 to 2008 have been coded based on epidemiological framework components such as agent, host and vector. One finding shows that "Nicotine & Tobacco Research" published a higher ratio of host papers. Another finding indicates that "Tobacco Control" published a higher ratio of environment papers.