Talking About the Smokes

Stakeholders from a large national research project aiming to better understand the pathways to smoking and quitting for Indigenous people met in mid-2014 to discuss nationwide results and trends.

Talking About the Smokes is a collaboration between Menzies, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) and a number of other research institutions and Aboriginal community controlled health services (ACCHSs).

The project is overseen by a group with wide experience in Indigenous health and tobacco control from research institutions and the ACCHS sector.

In 2012-2013, the project employed more than 100 local research assistants to interview over 2500 community members and conduct follow up interviews 12 months later.

Local agreements were made with each participating ACCHS, and local staff were trained and supported by project staff employed at NACCHO.

Local results have been fed back to each ACCHS, with relevant stakeholders participating in a project forum to discuss early baseline results in July 2014. These results will be published as a special supplement of the Medical Journal of Australia in 2015.