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Background

The NSW SmokeCheck Program is funded by the NSW Ministry of Health and the Cancer Institute NSW. The Program is administered through the Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney.

SmokeCheck Program goal

Cessnock Workshop

The SmokeCheck Program seeks to contribute to improving the health of Aboriginal people in NSW and to eliminate or reduce their exposure to tobacco in all its forms.

The SmokeCheck Program focuses on capacity building initiatives that will enable Aboriginal Health Workers and health services in NSW to encourage, assist and support Aboriginal health clients to make quit smoking attempts.

The following information is divided into four sections. It provides information about the background and strategic direction of the SmokeCheck Program. The Program has identified short, medium and long term objectives for achieving the its overall goal over the next ten years.

SmokeCheck Program objectives

  1. The origin of SmokeCheck
  2. Short term objectives (2009-2011)
  3. Medium term objectives
  4. Long term (5 -10 years)
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The origin of the SmokeCheck Program
Closing the Smoking Gap

In February 2002 a forum was held in Sydney to discuss the high prevalence of smoking among Aboriginal people in NSW. The forum agreed that the highest priority for action should be:

  • to increase the capacity and skills of health workers to deliver best practice smoking cessation interventions; and
  • to encourage Aboriginal Health Workers to quit smoking.

In June 2002, NSW Ministry of Health established a NSW Aboriginal Tobacco Control Advisory Committee, with representatives from the Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council (AH&MRC); Aboriginal Health Branch; Aboriginal Workforce Development Unit; Area Managers of Aboriginal Health; Centre for Research & Clinical Policy Aboriginal Vascular Health Program; Drug Programs Bureau; Centre for Health Advancement (formerly known as the Centre for Health Promotion: Strategies & Settings Branch and Tobacco & Health Branch); and the National Heart Foundation of Australia (NSW Division).

As part of the NSW Tobacco Action Plan 2005-2009, NSW Ministry of Health developed an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tobacco Prevention Project, called SmokeCheck and commissioned the Australian Centre for Health Promotion at the University of Sydney to undertake its development, implementation and evaluation. NSW SmokeCheck has been modelled on the Queensland SmokeCheck program.

In Phase 1 the Program conducted statewide training workshops for Aboriginal Health Workers, and other health workers who work within Aboriginal communities in NSW, in evidence-based brief intervention practices for smoking cessation.

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Short term objectives (2009-2011)
Closing the Smoking Gap

In Phase 2 (2009-2011), the SmokeCheck Program seeks to increase the proportion of:

  • Aboriginal Health Workers and other healthcare personnel with Aboriginal clients who have been trained in the SmokeCheck brief smoking cessation intervention;
  • SmokeCheck trained health services personnel putting the SmokeCheck brief intervention into routine practice;
  • Aboriginal Health Workers and other healthcare personnel with Aboriginal clients engaged in the SmokeCheck Program making personal quit smoking attempts;
  • health services managers and other healthcare service leaders partnering with the SmokeCheck Program in efforts to improve the integration of brief interventions in routine practice;
  • healthcare services engaged in the SmokeCheck Program whose organisational systems support the integration of the SmokeCheck brief intervention or other evidence-based smoking cessation intervention into routine practice; and
  • Aboriginal Health Workers and other health workers increasing their awareness and providing effective strategies to minimise exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) within Aboriginal communities.
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Medium term objectives

Over the next 2-5 years, SmokeCheck seeks to increase the proportion of:

Close the gap
  • healthcare services engaged in the SmokeCheck Program implementing the SmokeCheck brief intervention or other evidence-based smoking cessation intervention for their Aboriginal clients on a regular basis;
  • healthcare services in NSW engaged in the SmokeCheck Program using a standardised health data collection system to record smoking status, cessation advice and support and quit smoking attempts by their Aboriginal clients;
  • Aboriginal Health Workers and other health professionals using the SmokeCheck brief intervention or other evidence-base smoking cessation interventions routinely with their Aboriginal clients;
  • Aboriginal Health Workers and other healthcare personnel engaged in the SmokeCheck Program who quit smoking;
  • Aboriginal people making quit smoking attempts; and
  • Aboriginal people taking action to reduce exposure to ETS within their communities.
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Long term (5 -10 years)

Over the next 5-10 years, SmokeCheck seeks to reduce the prevalence of:

  • smoking among Aboriginal people in NSW as a result of an increase in the proportion of Indigenous people making quit smoking attempts;
  • smoking among Aboriginal Health Workers and other health professionals with Aboriginal clients; and
  • exposure to ETS within Aboriginal communities.
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