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Tobacco control priorities for Arabic speakers: key findings from a baseline telephone survey of Arabic speakers residing in Sydney's south‐west
Author(s) -
Perusco Andrew,
RikardBell Glenys,
Mohsin Mohammed,
Millen Elizabeth,
Sabry Marial,
Poder Natasha,
Williams Mandy,
Farag Lydia,
Hua Myna,
Guirguis Sanaa
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
health promotion journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 2201-1617
pISSN - 1036-1073
DOI - 10.1071/he07121
Subject(s) - tobacco control , medicine , smoking cessation , nicotine replacement therapy , arabic , demography , population health , public health , population , logistic regression , telephone survey , environmental health , advertising , nursing , linguistics , philosophy , pathology , sociology , business
Issue addressed The Arabic‐speaking population is a priority for tobacco control in Sydney's south‐west. Current smoking prevalence and smokers' preferences for evidence‐based cessation therapies are reported for this population. Methods A telephone survey of Arabic speakers conducted in Sydney's south‐west between August and November 2004 included: utilisation of tobacco products, tobacco and health knowledge, quit attempts and likelihood to use evidence‐based cessation strategies. Results A 70% response rate was achieved (n=1,102). Twenty‐six per cent of respondents (95% CI 23.5–28.7) self‐reported being current smokers. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that poor knowledge of the harms of smoking (AOR=7.50, 95% CI 3.20–17.59), being male (AOR=2.63, 95% CI 1.89–3.65), being aged between 40 and 59 (AOR=1.44, 95% CI 1.06–1.96) and non‐tertiary educated (AOR=1.44, 95% CI 1.06–1.97) were independent predictors of self‐reported smoking. Smokers' preferences for evidence‐based cessation strategies included: vouchers for discounted nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) (58.8%, 95% CI 52.9–64.6), standard selfhelp booklet (56.6%, 95% CI 50.7–62.4) and tailored self‐help written materials (mailed) (54.0%, 95% CI 48.159.9). More than one‐third of all current cigarette smokers (39.4%, n=108, 95% CI 33.6–45.2) indicated they had made a quit attempt in the past 12 months. Conclusions Well‐designed trials of efficacy for preferred evidence‐based strategies, particularly among middleaged male Arabic‐speaking smokers, appear warranted prior to policy development and implementation. So what? This paper provides evidence for targeting of interventions for this Arabic‐speaking population, among which smoking prevalence in males remains high.