NGO Smokefree Project
Update and News
November 2014
Last Forum
• Would like more:
– Personal smokefree journeys
• Both service users and staff
• No Butts – more stories
welcome!
• Forum programme
– Organisational smokefree journeys – what has
worked?
• More specialist support
• Breakfree smokefree service now operational!
• Providing support to smoking cessation services
• Working with specialist stop smoking practitioners so better support can
be provided to mental health and addiction service users
Last Forum
• Clarifying the requirements around asking
smoking status during recruitment process
• Specialist advice provided
via this Forum
• More information available on medications
• Varenicline paper developed in conjunction with Denise Barlow and circulated
• The new MoH Guidelines for Helping People to Stop Smoking have been
promoted to the sector
• Provide workshops/presentations on new Guidelines, stop smoking
medications to NGOs upon request.
Testing the Water
How are we going?
Survey Participation By Service Type
Service Description of Survey
Respondents
15%
Addiction Services Only
6%
Mental Health Services
Only
34%
Mental Health and
Addiction Services
45%
Service Description
Addiction Services Only
Mental Health Services Only
Mental Health and Addiction Services
Other
Total Respondents
Excellent Level of Engagement!
Other
Number Percentage
6%
4
34%
22
45%
29
15%
10
65
Please note the survey was sent to 76 providers within the Northern Region in June 2014.
Purpose of Survey
• To gain snapshot of:
– Smoking prevalence of service users
– Smoking prevalence of staff
• Understanding of key operational issues
– How is staff smoking defined
– What stop smoking support is being provided to staff?
– Is smoking status being factored into the recruitment process?
Please note:
•
•
•
This survey was not developed for research purposes. No attempt was made to
gain a representative sample that matched the profile of service users or staff.
Designed to provide operational ‘snap-shot’ to help inform programme
development
Tried to keep questions to 10 only!
Smoking Prevalence – Service Users
• 41 mental health and addiction organisations surveyed provided this
information
• Number of service users that are current smokers - 44% as at June 2013
• May be under-reported as “many say they don’t smoke when they do”
• Very high compared to population as a whole 15% (NZ Census 2013)
• Maori and Pacific providers were included in survey responses
• Smoking prevalence by ethnic group not possible as many providers
weren’t able to link smoking prevalence data to ethnicity data
– This would be very useful to do, so help to quit smoking can be better tailored
Smoking Prevalence - Staff
• 27 responses - 3 excluded as incorrect
• Smoking prevalence rate 22% as at 30 June 2014
• Actual rate may be higher - participating providers
may reflect those that are more committed to
supporting staff to become smokefree
• Only 5 providers use definition of current smokers
available in contract – a current smoker is anyone
who has smoked within the past 30 days.
– Most simply ask if staff member smokes
How Often Is Staff Smoking Status
Assessed?
When staff are initially
employed
29%
Annually
36%
Six monthly
Monthly
2%
Other
12%
We do not collect information
19%
2%
Contract expectations:
“You will ensure that all staff who smoke are routinely offered advice on
becoming smokefree and access to appropriate cessation support.”
N= 41 organisations
Type of Stop Smoking Support
Available to Staff
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
N = 31 organisations
Asking Smoking Status During
Recruitment Process
Yes
49.0%
51.0%
N=35 organisations
No
Opportunities for Development
• Embed practice of asking smoking status, and raising
awareness of smokefree policy during staff recruitment
phase
• Definition of current smoking consistently defined when
assessing smoking status of staff
• Staff to be regularly provided with quit support – at least
every 6 months
– Reassessment of smoking status
• Ability to cross reference smoking status of staff/service
user with ethnicity/gender identity
– Better able to tailor support and key messages
Testing the Water
How are we going?
Testing the Water
How are we going?
NGO Smokefree Project
Update and News
November 2014