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Smoking cessation: treating the intractable smoker

Summary of the impact

There is no `magic bullet' for helping intractable smokers to quit. Rather, the story of this research is one of multiple studies that have built the knowledge base incrementally, allowing Professor of Clinical Psychology Peter Hajek and his team at the Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine to produce a targeted, evidence-based model of a specialist treatment that has fed directly into the establishment of the NHS smoking cessation service (NHS-SSS) and national smoking cessation policy (including NICE guidance), and changed clinical practice. The NHS-SSS treats 800,000 smokers per year. The approach is influential globally and has now been used in treating several million smokers and preventing hundreds of thousands of premature deaths.

Submitting Institution

Queen Mary, University of London

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

The Development of a Guided Audio as an aid for Abstinent Smokers to manage their Smoking Withdrawal Symptoms

Summary of the impact

Research and development at the University of Surrey of a guided audio to help abstinent smokers manage their stress, smoking cravings and tobacco withdrawal symptoms.

The audio — in MP3 format — is freely available on the NHS Stop Smoking website, and is part of the NHS smoking `Quit Kit'. The audio has been downloaded 81,396 times (as of May, 2013). The main user groups of the audio are NHS patients wishing to stop smoking, and members of the general population.

Submitting Institution

University of Surrey

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

UOA02-06: Shaping International and UK Tobacco Policy and Practice

Summary of the impact

Oxford's research has helped reduce smoking prevalence and tobacco-related mortality worldwide. Our epidemiological studies have documented the varied ways in which smoking causes death in many countries, as well as the large benefits of smoking cessation, and have strongly influenced the WHO/Bloomberg 2008 MPOWER package, the key document guiding governmental tobacco policy worldwide. Oxford University researchers have also coordinated the systematic reviews that underpin effective evidence-based policies for encouraging smoking cessation both in the UK and worldwide, for example providing evidence supporting NICE guidance for smoking cessation.

Submitting Institution

University of Oxford

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Smoking cessation support by text message: the impact of the txt2stop trial

Summary of the impact

The txt2stop trial, led by LSHTM, provided robust evidence that smoking cessation support delivered by text messaging doubles biochemically verified quitting at six months and is highly cost-effective. The research resulted in a new smoking cessation service delivered by text message in England, with over 34,000 smokers having joined the programme by the end of March 2013. The research was noted in international forums and used by WHO in a presentation to member countries; at least four countries have taken steps to roll out their own programmes. The trial findings received exceptionally wide media coverage in 2011.

Submitting Institution

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Giving up to save face? Investigating the impact of age-appearance facial morphing on women's smoking

Summary of the impact

Clark-Carter and colleagues' research on impact of facial morphing technology on smoking cessation has given national and international smoking cessation programmes a strong evidence base for the importance of focusing on the negative effects of smoking on personal appearance as well as on health. The work has impacted internationally; the developers of the software utilised in our studies (Aprilage Inc.) have used the research as evidence for effectiveness of their software, and stop smoking websites in the USA, Canada, and Ireland cite our research in full. In the UK, at least three Stop Smoking Services have incorporated age-appearance morphing programmes into their practice as a direct result of workshops on our research findings, and the Operation Smokestorm smoking prevention initiative (used by more than 100 schools across the UK) uses our research findings as part of the rationale for focusing on the appearance-damaging effects of smoking in the intervention.

Submitting Institution

Staffordshire University

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Effects of parental smoking on respiratory health among children

Summary of the impact

Systematic quantitative reviews of epidemiological evidence linking parental smoking with adverse respiratory health effects in childhood were published in 1997-1999 in Thorax. These meta-analyses were updated as a contribution to the US Surgeon-General's report on Secondhand Smoking, published in 2006, and the UK Royal College of Physicians' report on Passive Smoking and Children, published in 2010.

Over this period the adverse health effects of environmental tobacco smoke achieved prominence in public health policy, through campaigns for smoke-free workplaces (including pubs and restaurants) and publicity against parental smoking in the presence of children, both in cars and in the home.

Submitting Institution

St George's, University of London

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Improving understanding among policy makers, the public and medical professionals of the potential harm that MDMA (Ecstasy) use may have on the neuro-psychological functioning of adults and babies

Summary of the impact

Research conducted by UEL's Drugs and Addictive Behaviours Research Group (DAB) and the UEL Institute for Research in Child Development (IRCD) from 1990-2012 has provided key information about the neuro-psychological risks of the use of the drug MDMA (Ecstasy).This information has been used by the US and UK governments, medical professionals and public information organisations. The research was included in the UK government Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD, 2009) review of MDMA effects and informed government and public debate on the legal classification of MDMA. It has also supported associated debates around the potential harmful effects of MDMA. Subsequent media and public engagement with those debates has contributed to increased public awareness of the effects and risks of MDMA and engaged new audiences with important social and scientific issues. More recent research has informed parents and medical practitioners about the potential harmful effects of MDMA on specific aspects of infant functioning when taken during pregnancy.

Submitting Institution

University of East London

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

6: Influencing Tobacco Control Policy and Practice

Summary of the impact

Smoking is the single most important preventable cause of mortality and inequalities in health in the UK. Tobacco use causes over 100,000 deaths each year in the UK, with around 10,000 of these due to non-smokers' exposure to secondhand smoke. The total cost of smoking to society is estimated to be over £13 billion. The UoE Tobacco Control Research Group's (TCRG) research and knowledge exchange activities have significantly influenced tobacco control policy and practice in the UK (http://www.cphs.mvm.ed.ac.uk/groups/tcrg or http://tinyurl.com/nwxcpnh). More specifically, their research on smoking and non-smoking by young people has influenced smoking prevention and cessation policy at the national level in Scotland and England and at regional/local levels. Their evaluation studies of the national smoke-free legislation in Scotland and England provided important evidence on the legislation's positive public health impact, thereby undermining the case for repealing or diluting the legislation. Their research on reducing smoking in the home has influenced national policy and practice on this issue in Scotland including national mass media campaigns.

Submitting Institution

University of Edinburgh

Unit of Assessment

Social Work and Social Policy

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Development and implementation of UK tobacco control policy

Summary of the impact

Research, policy development, evaluation and advocacy work at The University of Nottingham has achieved significant impact in helping to prevent the harm to health caused by smoking, which is the largest avoidable cause of death and disability, and of social inequalities in health, in the UK. This impact has been achieved through contributions in two areas of prevention: (1) conventional population- and individual-level interventions to prevent smoking uptake and promote smoking cessation; and (2) novel population-level measures to encourage substitution of smoked tobacco with alternative, low hazard nicotine products as a harm reduction strategy.

Submitting Institution

University of Nottingham

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Influencing international tobacco policy on standardised tobacco packaging

Summary of the impact

Ground-breaking experimental research at the University of Bristol assessing the effectiveness of standardised tobacco packaging legislation has been strongly influencing international tobacco policy and legislation since 2011. Work by scientists in the School of Experimental Psychology was the first to show, using direct, objective measures, that standardised tobacco packaging modifies relevant behaviours. Australia became the first country in the world to implement standardised packaging legislation in 2012 after reviewing the University of Bristol research in their High Court in response to legal challenges from the tobacco industry. That same year, the European Commission's update of the Tobacco Products Directive cited the same University of Bristol research to support the claim that standardised packaging would strengthen the effectiveness of graphic health warnings on tobacco products. The UK government has also used the University of Bristol research to inform the consultation on standardised packaging of tobacco products.

Submitting Institution

University of Bristol

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

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