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Background Hospital admission provides a powerful opportunity to promote smoking cessation. We explored patients' and healthcare professionals' (HCP) views of a specialist smoking cessation service comprising systematic smoking ascertainment, default provision of pharmacotherapy and behavioural counselling at the bedside, and post-discharge follow-up, in a clinical trial in a United Kingdom teaching hospital. Methods Semi-structured interviews with 30 patients who were offered the intervention, and 27 HCPs working on intervention wards, were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Results The shock of being admitted, and awareness that smoking may have contributed to the need for hospital admission, caused many patients to reassess their quit intentions. Most patients felt the service was too good an opportunity to pass up, because having long-term support and progress monitored was more likely to result in abstinence than trying alone. Had they not been approached, many patients reported that they would have attempted to quit alone, though some would have been discouraged from doing so by pharmacotherapy costs. Service delivery by a specialist advisor was favoured by patients and HCPs, largely because HCPs lacked time and expertise to intervene. HCPs reported that in usual practice, discussions about smoking were usually limited to ascertainment of smoking status. Timing of service delivery and improved co-ordination between service staff and inpatient ward staff were matters to address. Conclusions A hospital-based specialist smoking cessation service designed to identify smokers and initiate cessation support at the bedside was deemed appropriate by patients and HCPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this article is to review existing research literature in order to trace changes in a level of public support for alcohol policies, their individual correlates and social/political determinants. Methods: Articles for the review were collected by SCOPUS browser which is a database of abstracts and number of citations. Articles were also searched by MEDLINE browser but the results overlapped with the results obtained by SCOPUS. In our search, we used the combination of the following words: (1) policy support and alcohol; (2) public opinion and alcohol policy and also (3) policy support and alcohol policy. In addition to a systematic review, a number of papers were included through opportunistic methods, such as searching in bibliographies and reference lists of relevant publications. Conclusions: Past decades of research on social support for alcohol control policies showed that the level of support either fluctuates or tends slowly to decline parallel with progressing economic liberalization. Nevertheless, supporters of restrictive alcohol policies still represent large proportion of the contemporary society and in combination with those satisfied with existing level of control - constitute large majority. Control measures targeting young people do enjoy more support which implicates diverting attention from strategies aimed at general adult population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although collaborative team models (CTM) improve care processes and health outcomes, their diffusion poses challenges related to difficulties in securing their adoption by primary care clinicians (PCPs). The objectives of this study are to understand: (1) how the perceived characteristics of a CTM influenced clinicians' decision to adopt -or not- the model; and (2) the model's diffusion process. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal case study based on the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. First, diffusion curves were developed for all 175 PCPs and 59 nurses practicing in one borough of Paris. Second, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a representative sample of 40 PCPs and 15 nurses to better understand the implementation dynamics. Results: Diffusion curves showed that 3.5 years after the start of the implementation, 100% of nurses and over 80% of PCPs had adopted the CTM. The dynamics of the CTM's diffusion were different between the PCPs and the nurses. The slopes of the two curves are also distinctly different. Among the nurses, the critical mass of adopters was attained faster, since they adopted the CTM earlier and more quickly than the PCPs. Results of the semi-structured interviews showed that these differences in diffusion dynamics were mostly founded in differences between the PCPs' and the nurses' perceptions of the CTM's compatibility with norms, values and practices and its relative advantage (impact on patient management and work practices). Opinion leaders played a key role in the diffusion of the CTM among PCPs. Conclusion: CTM diffusion is a social phenomenon that requires a major commitment by clinicians and a willingness to take risks; the role of opinion leaders is key. Paying attention to the notion of a critical mass of adopters is essential to developing implementation strategies that will accelerate the adoption process by clinicians. Keywords: Primary care, Primary care physician, Nurses, Chronic disease, Collaboration, Health service research, Diffusion of innovation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I have documented the shift in youth alcoholic beverage preference from beer to distilled spirits between 2001 and 2009. I have assessed the role of distilled spirits industry marketing strategies to promote this shift using the Smirnoff brand marketing campaign as a case example. I conclude with a discussion of the similarities in corporate tactics across consumer products with adverse public health impacts, the importance of studying corporate marketing and public relations practices, and the implications of those practices for public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]