Smoking during pregnancy,stigma and secrets: Visual methods exploration in the UK

BackgroundMoral judgements are commonly directed towards mothers through reference to health behaviour in pregnancy, and working-class mothers are particularly subject to this moral gaze.AimTo gain an in-depth understanding of the health issues affecting 10 low income pregnant women from deprived areas of south Wales, UK.MethodsParticipants completed visual activities (timelines, collaging or thought bubbles and dyad sandboxing) prior to each interview. Participants’ visual representations were used in place of a topic guide, to direct the interview. Guided by feminist principles, 28 interviews were completed with 10 women. Data were analysed thematically.FindingsSmoking was discussed at length during interviews, and this paper focuses on this issue alone. Five of the participants had smoked during pregnancy. Negative reactions were directed towards pregnant women who smoked in public, resulting in maternal smoking being undertaken in private. Participants also reported awkward relationships with midwives and other health professionals, including receipt of public health advice in a judgemental tone.DiscussionSmoking during pregnancy is a particularly demonised and stigmatised activity. This stigma is not always related to the level of risk to the foetus, and instead can be seen as a moral judgement about women. We urgently need to move from individualised neo-liberal discourses about the failure of individual smokers, to a more socio-ecological view which avoids victim blaming.ConclusionStigma from friends, family, strangers and health professionals may lead to hidden smoking. This is a barrier to women obtaining evidence based stop smoking support.     

《烟草路》中的帝国优生学

《烟草路》成书于优生学运动在美国发展的高潮时期,以优生学的视角观察美国南方贫穷白人佃农的生活,将“白垃圾”的畸形、弱智和堕落等问题都归因于其劣等的遗传因素,其中的医学话语不仅掩饰了南方贫困佃农遭受的经济剥削和他者化的不平等待遇,还粉饰了帝国统治中的地域差异、文化压迫和强制绝育等问题。小说使优生学成为帝国话语的一部分,巩固了帝国的意识形态及统治。     

Implementing the ecological approach in tobacco control programs: results of a case study

The ‘new public health’ has stimulated calls to adopt an ecological approach for action aimed at improving population health. However, the implementation of ecological programs has often remained a challenge. The objective of this study was to identify factors facilitating the implementation of ecological tobacco control programming in two Public Health Departments in Québec (Canada) using Scheirer's model of program implementation as a conceptual framework and an exemplary case study design. Analysis revealed two distinct configurations of environmental, organizational and professional characteristics that were related to equally successful implementations of the framework. Key roles for factors such as provincial ministerial guidelines and financial resources, human resources, and relationships and alliances with other organizations, were highlighted. These results replicate findings from quantitative surveys and allow better understanding of the conditions required for planning ecological programming.     

近代英美烟草公司在华广告本土化战略初探

英美烟公司是近代在中国烟草市场垄断多年的外资企业,在近半个世纪的生产经营中,这个公司的产品一直占中国卷烟市场总销售量的50%-80%左右,究其原因,其最突出的一点就是广告传播本土化战略的运用。文章从这一点入手,分析其实施此战略的原因、表现及效果,以期让我们更清楚地看出近代国外资本对中国进行经济掠夺的手段,并对今天我国企业学习西方的广告传播战略有所借鉴。     

Sleep hygiene practices and sleep duration in rotating-shift shiftworkers

Abstract

Alcohol, caffeine and tobacco intake, exercise, activities on going to bed, and sleep-enhancing measures were assessed in 72 rotating-shift shiftworkers to determine whether these variables differ following day shifts and night-shifts, and which are related to sleep duration. Only alcohol intake and exercise prior to sleep, and feeling drowsy when retiring, differed following the night-shift. Workers generally followed recommendations concerning alcohol intake, sleeping immediately on retiring, and exercising, but acted contrary to recommendations concerning caffeine and nicotine intake. The only behaviour clearly associated with poor sleep was smoking, which reduced sleep duration.     

Tobacco—the importance of relevant information on risk

Summary. Although it has been widely accepted since the 1960s that smoking cigarettes carries a substantial health risk, worldwide mortality from tobacco-related diseases is increasing rapidly at the beginning of the 21st century. To provide the motivation to control this epidemic there is a continuing and pressing need for information on the risks of tobacco consumption that is accurate, up to date, locally relevant and imaginatively presented.     

Flexible Bivariate Count Data Regression Models

The article develops a semiparametric estimation method for the bivariate count data regression model. We develop a series expansion approach in which dependence between count variables is introduced by means of stochastically related unobserved heterogeneity components, and in which, unlike existing commonly used models, positive as well as negative correlations are allowed. Extensions that accommodate excess zeros, censored data, and multivariate generalizations are also given. Monte Carlo experiments and an empirical application to tobacco use confirms that the model performs well relative to existing bivariate models, in terms of various statistical criteria and in capturing the range of correlation among dependent variables. This article has supplementary materials online.     

恩施烟地土壤和烤烟团棵期硒含量与分布的研究

对湖北省恩施市几个主要产烟区的烟地土壤的调查分析和对烤烟盆栽试验结果的分析表明,烟地土壤含硒量因土壤母质而异,并与土壤有机碳含量呈正相关,其分布随土壤深度增加而减少;烤烟团棵期含硒量随土壤含硒量和土壤施硒量的增加而增加,并呈现出地下部分大于地上部分的分布规律。     

Tobacco Control and Smoking Cessation Efforts in an Inner-City African American Community

This paper describes the conceptual framework that guided the development and implementation of a large-scale, community-based health initiative to lower the prevalence of smoking in an urban African American community. This project developed culturally-sensitive approaches to reducing smoking in the community and to promoting tobacco control efforts developed and implemented by community members. A randomized clinical-trial methodology was used to test the efficacy of the culturally-sensitivey community-developed smoking cessation interventions in lowering smoking rates as compared with a self-help approach. Two theoretical models guided the intervention strategies: a macro-level model applicable to the community as a whole, and a psychological process model applicable to individuals. The community model was based on community systems theory and incorporated the Readiness for Change Model which was applied in both the individual and organizational models. In addition, culturally-sensitive data collection methods were developed to improve the reliability and validity of project data, especially in determining the smoking prevalence rates and smoking behaviors of hard-to-reach, inner-city African Americans. Since the health of individuals is related to the health of their communities, smoking cessation and tobacco control activities that are integrated into the framework of the community (Le., churches, city-council, housing developments, community organizations), and incorporate culturally-relevant and specific interventions can be effective methods for achieving behavioral and societal change.     

A Collage Of Cults

Children contribute substantially to the workforce needed to produce tobacco in Indonesia. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork, I discuss the reasons behind children's economic involvement in tobacco cultivation in the eastern region of the island of Lombok in eastern Indonesia. I explore children's paid work in the plantations by looking at the three dimensions of their economic lives: the local economy, their households and their individual lives. I address the tension between children's agency and the systems that constrain it.