Chat Sheet

Smokefree… (www.smokefree.co.nz)

Smokefree Conference 13 and 14 September
The biennial Smokefree Conference will take place in Wellington – mark the dates in your diaries now. Organisers are seeking conference abstracts, focusing on the evidence behind tobacco control interventions and seeking to identify what is and isn't effective in reducing smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption. Abstracts must be received by 21 May. See the Call For Abstracts document included in this Chat Sheet. There will be four topic streams:
• Let's celebrate - a legislative milestone
• Challenges and responses
• Best evidence
• Health promotion

World Smokefree Day – 31 May 2004
The goal for World Smokefree Day 2004 is to support and encourage Smokefree environments. Objectives include:
• Focusing attention on the benefits of being Smokefree in domestic settings, particularly where there are children – Smokefree Homes and Smokefree Cars
• Supporting the Smoke-free Environments Amendment Act 2003

The World Smokefree Day team comprises representatives from the Cancer Society, Smokefree Coalition, Te Hotu Manawa Maori, the National Heart Foundation, ATAK, Health Sponsorship Council (HSC), The Quit Group, ASH, the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation of New Zealand and Smokefree Pacific Action Network (SPAN).

Smokefree resources are available from your local authorised health education resource provider, the HSC, The Quit Group, ASH, Pacific Islands Heartbeat and Te Hotu Manawa Maori. You can order these directly from each organisation.

The order form for specific World Smokefree Day resources has been sent out. As well as World Smokefree Day resources this order form has a list of other new resources you may find useful. There will be free resource kits supplied to each regional team. (Thanks, by the way, for keeping us informed about these. It looks as though we will have 48 teams again this year.)

Front cover: Smokefree Teens - cokesmokefreerockquest 2004 poster
Check out the website www.worldsmokefreeday.com – it has information on contacts, last year’s activities, facts and figures and frequently-asked questions. For further information, please call or email SUSIE GREENE, World Smokefree Day Coordinator, 04 472 5777, wsd@healthsponsorship.co.nz or WENDY BILLINGSLEY, World Smokefree Day Manager, 021 176 7563.

Smokefree Arts... smokefreearts.co.nz

Smokefree Arts is at its busiest. The report for the research we undertook last year should be complete by the end of March. More than 250 people responded to a survey, which had both quantitative and qualitative elements. We should have a summary of the results in the next Chat Sheet, with ideas on how we can use the knowledge.

The 2004 New Zealand International Festival of the Arts is underway, and doing well in spite of the generally soggy conditions in Wellington. Smokefree Arts is delivering a healthy lifestyle message via Quartet (by South Islanders Anthony Ritchie and Stuart Hoar), Black Grace (choreographer Neil Ieremia), Geographical Cure (from Verona) and The Prophet (by Hone Kouka). The Prophet is being presented with Taki Rua Productions, which has an association with Auahi Kore. Other New Zealand performers have been able to access the Smokefree message and discounted Festival events through 200 Smokefree Festival Artists cards.

Black Grace will follow its appearance at the Festival with a trip to the Theatre Royal in Christchurch. Smokefree Arts is working closely with Community and Public Health Christchurch, which has organised workshops with Black Grace company members for at-risk high school students.

Smokefree Sport ... (www.smokefreesport.co.nz)
This will be an exciting year in Smokefree Sport, as most sports clubs become Smokefree. From 10 December 2004, legislation will require sports clubs to be smokefree in enclosed areas if they are a workplace or a licensed premise as defined by the Act. Workplace means an area (internal) occupied by the employer, usually frequented by employees or volunteers during the course of their employment. Licensed premises are any premises or part of any premises, on which liquor may be sold pursuant to Sale of Liquor Act licence.

HSC and the Ministry of Health have met sporting code stakeholders and have received positive feedback and suggestions on implementation strategies. We will produce an information sheet for distribution to sports clubs. Please note that the blue HSC publication, ‘Let’s Clear the Air in Sport’ has not yet been updated and, to avoid confusion, this publication is not currently available.

Thanks to all health providers who have contributed over the years to the growing acceptance of Smokefree sporting environments.

We want to make a special acknowledgement to Canterbury Softball and New Zealand and Auckland Hockey for making their world events Smokefree, indoor and out. The Men’s World Softball Champs were held at Smokefree Ballpark and were 100% Smokefree, and the upcoming Women’s Olympic Hockey Qualifier will be a Smokefree event.

At a national level, we continue working with selected sporting codes that are committed to supporting the kaupapa. It’s great to have most netball regions on board, and to have role models within these regions promoting our messages. We are looking at opportunities to promote the Smokefree Homes campaign within the netball community.

We are engaging in fewer sponsorships in sport these days, in light of the new legislation. At grassroots level we are instead assisting local health workers support their sports clubs that go Smokefree through the provision of signage and some resources. We are also looking at introducing some new Smokefree Sport resources, with a new netball and hockey poster due out in the first half of this year.

For more information, please contact MARIJA.

Auahi Kore Panui ... (www.auahikore.co.nz)

Kia ora everyone and welcome to a new year of Auahi Kore mahi.

2004 is proving an exciting time for Auahi Kore - since the last Chat Sheet we’ve been reviewing the programme to see how we can increase our effectiveness in promoting the message. We are looking into focusing on particular ‘market segments’ – rangatahi and marae in particular - and developing resources that suit the audiences.

Our tents are so popular we’ve invested in a couple more – let KRISTAL know if you want to hire them. We are also considering producing large PVC banners for stage fronts and other areas. Again, KRISTAL is the person to contact – let her know your general feedback on signage too.

Taki Rua, appearing in the New Zealand Festival of the Arts, has long carried the Auahi Kore kaupapa. The group is to tour the country at the end of the festival, so watch out for panui in your town. Taki Rua will perform The Prophet by Hone Kouka through the upper North Island during April and the very funny Untold Stories of Maui in Wellington in July, and in Dunedin and Christchurch in October. This play is Taki Rua’s first comedy. Check out their website for more details…. www.takirua.co.nz

In the meantime, please contact either me (MERE) or KRISTAL if you have any questions or comments about Auahi Kore.

Smokefree Teens… (www.lungfish.co.nz)

The Smokefree Teen Programme is well underway, with Teen programme and event partners working hard to get Smokefree event information and resources out to schools around the country.

The cokesmokefreerockquest booklet and entry forms were sent to all secondary schools at the end of February, ready for the first heats in Christchurch on 1 May. The national final is being held on 16 October in Takapuna, Auckland. The other dates for this event are on the Lungfish poster on the cover of this Chat Sheet.

This year Smokefree will also work with the New Zealand Schools Tour (NZST) to promote the Smokefree message to the teen audience. NZST supports an up-and-coming New Zealand band to tour around schools, performing lunchtime concerts and mentoring bands entered in cokesmokefreerockquest. NZST offers Smokefree a very positive and cool entry to schools, as well as helping to promote the regional finals for the cokesmokefreerockquest.

If you want to know more about this year’s Smokefree Teens events contact DONNA on 04 472 5777 or donna@healthsponsorship.co.nz

Bike Wise… (www.bikewise.co.nz)

National Bike Wise Week 2004
Bike Wise Week was again a huge success. Just under 390 organisations – 120 more than last year – ran a huge number of events and the week grew by 45% over last year. This increase is probably a reflection of the government’s draft walking and cycling strategy, and local authorities developing cycling strategies.

Twenty Bike to Work Day breakfasts took place and HSC helped secure product sponsors for the free breakfasts. Extreme weather in some areas caused events to be postponed or cancelled but most events were not affected.

More than 130 organisations participated in the Bike Wise Business Battle, with almost 1,900 employees taking part. In total 160,479 kms and people were on their bikes for 7,714 hours. This the equivalent of biking 4.2 times around the round world and watching 15,428 episodes of friends or cycling 321 days non-stop.

Bike Wise Mountain Bike Jam
The Bike Wise Mountain Bike Jams take place this month, with the first to be held in Christchurch on 21 March. From there the events travel to Dunedin, Invercargill, Wellington, Taupo, and Auckland (two events). We hope around 3,000 5-13 year olds will take part.

SunSmart… (www.sunsmart.co.nz)

At this time of year SunSmart moves toward evaluation, debriefs and wrap-ups of various summer initiatives. Both television flights of the Tiger Prawn ad have taken place, and the radio placements have finished. We are waiting for the media evaluation report.

The UVI is still featuring in newspapers, although TV1 stopped using it in mid-February – a move attributed to the dreadful weather.

TNS Research (formally NFO) has conducted the communication campaign evaluation, and we are waiting for the final report. We are also waiting for results from commissioned research into two of our main sponsorships.

On 26 February, as part of a Ministry of Health contract, we held a Sun Safety Workshop for health promoters in the Central Region (Hawkes Bay, Tairawhiti, Midland, Whanganui, Wellington and the Wairarapa). We will be writing a report for the ministry, and looking at sun safety recommendations for 2004/5 planning.

For any SunSmart information or feedback contact WENDY at either wendy@healthsponsorship.co.nz or wendy.billingsley@cancer.org.nz, or phone HSC: 04 472 7222, Cancer Soc: 04 494 7270, mobile: 021 176 7563.

Research and Evaluation Unit

In the last Chat Sheet we outlined key components of the research and evaluation programme associated with the Smokefree Homes campaign (the home and cars aspect of the second-hand smoke campaign). This time we summarise findings from a qualitative research study of smoking in the home and car. This study was conducted in August 2003 by TNS and had a major influence on development of the Smokefree Homes campaign.

The purpose of this study was to identify key influences on decisions around smoking in homes and cars. The research aimed to understand how these decisions are made, and to provide information that would inform the development of a creative brief for smoking in homes television advertisements.

A qualitative research approach, using individual in-depth interviews, was used. Thirty interviews were conducted with parents/care-givers who self-identified as key decision-makers regarding smoking in their homes. Around half of the participants said they came from homes where smoking was allowed, the other half came from homes where smoking was banned, most were current smokers and they came from a range of urban, provincial and rural locations.

The study found that the smokers interviewed had typically tried to quit smoking at some time but had gone back to it at vulnerable points in their lives. It was common for smokers to feel frustrated and suffer low self-esteem through their failed quit attempts. There was high awareness amongst smokers that smoking around others is less acceptable now than it was five years ago, however, not all smokers felt constrained to show consideration to non-smokers. Smokers in this ‘less considerate’ category reported being fed up with society’s ostracising of smokers, feeling that it is their right to have a physically comfortable place to smoke and feeling that it is socially unacceptable to impose smoking restrictions on others (this is seen as inhospitable, smug and superior).

With regard to smokers being role-models for children, a number of participants felt that their smoking did not influence their children’s attitudes and behaviours in relation to smoking. However, many acknowledged that the smoking behaviour and rules that had prevailed in their family home when growing up had influenced the behaviour and rules that now existed in their own home. For example, if smoking had been permitted inside the family home around others, participants tended to follow suit in their adult years.

The study found that, while there is growing awareness that second-hand smoke is harmful, many participants only had a limited understanding about the nature of second-hand smoke risks. There were many examples of incorrect beliefs about second hand smoke. For example, some participants believed that once a child is old enough to walk they can leave the room if someone is smoking; some believed that sitting next to a window or opening a door was enough to protect children in the house from the harms of second-hand smoke; and others believed that it is acceptable to smoke in the presence of non-smokers if they do not complain or do not ask you to smoke elsewhere (silence is equated with endorsement of smoking behaviour).

With respect to decision making about smoking in the home and car, the study found that, although other household members may be involved with decisions about where smoking will and will not be permitted, it is ultimately the smoker who decides whether or not to smoke in certain places. The research identified four types of decision making: reactive (when a conscious choice is make in response to changed circumstances); gradual (when smoking areas evolve over time); modelled (people following the behaviour they were exposed to in the family home when growing up) and fluid (where, even when rules have been made about where and when smoking is permitted, they are broken to suit circumstances).

In the homes where there were no smoking restrictions inside or outside the home, this occurred because beliefs about second-hand smoke down played the risks associated with it, non-smokers acquiesced to accommodate smokers’ needs, smokers believed it was their right to smoke whenever and wherever they please, there was not a sufficiently comfortable area for smoking or having smoking restrictions was seen as unfriendly and unwelcoming.

Where smoking was permitted in cars, it was typically justified on the basis that, if there is adequate ventilation then smoke blows away and no harm is done or it is unreasonable on long trips to expect smokers to go without smoking ‘for hours’. Smoking can also occur in the car to protect the home from smoke damage, to escape the rules of a smokefree home or to avoid the embarrassment of being seen smoking in public. Where smoking is not allowed in cars this tends to be because of the health risks it would create, the odour it leaves in the car or unpleasant childhood memories of being trapped in a car on trips with smoking parents.

In summary, the research identified a number of motivations for, and barriers to, adopting protective behaviours in relation to second-hand smoke. Motivations for adopting protective behaviours include:
• a strong desire to protect children because they cannot speak up for themselves and lack the freedom to remove themselves from smoky situations
• wanting to protect others’ health (e.g. children and elderly relatives)
• parents wanting to set a good example to their children
• understanding and believing the risks about the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

Barriers to adopting protective behaviours include:
• lack of understanding and incorrect beliefs about the risks associated with second-hand smoke
• smokers knowing the health risks from smoking but being in denial about the relationship between their own smoking and their ill health and/or their smoking and the ill health of their children
• smokers believing it was their right to smoke whenever and wherever they please (and having non-smokers endorse this)
• the belief that it was socially unacceptable to have smoking restrictions in their home because it portrays them as smug, superior and unfriendly
• not having a suitable place to smoke outside
• in a time-scarce world combining smoking with household chores to maximise use of time and eliminate the conflict between needing a cigarette but wanting to get the chores done.

Research and Evaluation Unit Update
In January we welcomed Julie Gillespie to the HSC research team. Julie has worked in hospital-based personal health research and has recently completed a Masters degree in Public Health at Otago University.

During the next few months Julie will analyse monitoring data for the Smokefree workplaces and homes campaigns.

Shopping list… (www.healthsponsorship.co.nz)

The new signs introduced to meet the ministry’s requirements due to changes in the Smokefree Environments Act in relation to schools and early childcare centres are illustrated below. They’re $18 each and can be purchased through HSC.

With cold(er) weather on the way it’s time to order polar fleeces or vests. If you are after something a little more dressy, the Homestead jacket is ideal and still only $160.00. We have also just received another shipment of thermal mugs – these are popular so don’t delay ordering.

We still have some coir door mats saying “Welcome, our place is Smokefree.” Priced at $20, these mats are a nice introduction to World Smokfree Day – Smokefree homes.

We are still receiving many incomplete orders. Please ensure all details are included on your order forms so we can avoid delays in dispatches.

Who’s who

Iain Potter Director (iain@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Trevor Shailer Manager, Maori Development andCommunications (trevor@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Mere Wilson Auahi Kore Manager (to be advised) (mere@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Marija Vidovich Smokefree Sport Manager (marija@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Donna Watson Smokefree Teens Manager (donna@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Felicity Close Communications/PR (felicity@healthsponsorship.co.nz)
Bike Wise Manager
Mon / Weds / Fri only

Fenn Gordon Smokefree Arts Mon only (fenn@healthsponsorship.co.nz)
Tues to Friday contactable at - (fenn@xtra.co.nz)

Wendy Billingsley SunSmart Manager (wendy@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Kristal Hyde Marketing Co-ordinator (kristal@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Anaru Waa Research & Evaluation Senior (anaru@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Kiri Milne Research & Evaluation (kiri@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Julie Gillespie Research & Evaluation (julie@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Tane Cassidy Manager, Special Projects (tane@healthsponsorship.co.nz)
Monday - Thursday

Debbie Moody Office Manager (debbie@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Sharda Dahya Merchandise (sharda@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

Zara Wortley Receptionist (zara@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

General Enquiries (info@healthsponsorship.co.nz)

___________________________________________________________________________

1st FLOOR, FULBRIGHT NZ HOUSE, 120 FEATHERSTON STREET,
PO BOX 2142, WELLINGTON
www.healthsponsorship.co.nz www.smokefree.co.nz
www.auahikore.co.nz www.lungfish.co.nz
www.bikewise.co.nz www.sunsmart.co.nz
Telephone 04 472 5777 * Facsimile 04 472 5799