Perspectives on the cross-cultural challenges and coping strategies of sport coaches

As competitive sports become increasingly global, sport coaches engage in multicultural organizations and interact with people from different cultures. These interactions may need sport coaches to have cross-cultural competencies to manage cultural differences. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cross-cultural challenges encountered by sport coaches in multicultural sport environments, and to explore the coping strategies they employ to navigate these challenges. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve coach educators from various sports and nations. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed two themes regarding the cross-cultural challenges faced by sport coaches: (1) unpreparedness to interact with people of different cultures, and (2) adapting to different cultures as a sports coach. In addition, two themes emerged in relation to their coping strategies: (3) being immersed in different cultures; and (4) being open-minded. The results of the study indicate that sport coaches, regardless of whether they are in their home country or abroad, encounter personal and professional challenges related to culture in their interactions with others. It illustrates the need for cross-cultural topics to be addressed in coach development programs

Structured smoking cessation training for health professionals on cardiology wards: a prospective study.

Background: Smoking is a major cardiovascular risk factor, and smoking cessation is imperative for patients hospitalised with a cardiovascular event. This study aimed to evaluate a systems-based approach to helping hospitalised smokers quit and to identify implementation barriers. Design: Prospective intervention study followed by qualitative analysis of staff interviews Methods: The prospective intervention study assessed the effects of implementing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the provision of counselling and pharmacotherapy to smokers admitted to cardiology wards on counselling frequency. In addition, a qualitative analysis of staff interviews was undertaken to examine determinants of physician and nurse behaviour; this sought to understand barriers in terms of motivation, capability and/or opportunity. Results: A total of 150 smoking patients were included in the study (75 before and 75 after SOP implementation). Before the implementation of SOPs, the proportion of patients reporting to have received cessation counselling from physicians and nurses was 6.7% and 1.3%, respectively. Following SOP implementation, these proportions increased to 38.7% (p < 0.001) and 2.7% (p = 0.56), respectively. Qualitative analysis revealed that lack of motivation, e.g. role incongruence, appeared to be a major barrier. Conclusions: Introduction of a set of standard operating procedures for smoking cessation advice was effective with physicians but not nurses. Analysis of barriers to implementation highlighted lack of motivation rather than capability or opportunity as a major factor that would need to be addressed

'The smoking toolkit study': a national study of smoking and smoking cessation in England

Background: Up-to-date data tracking of national smoking patterns and cessation-related behaviour is required to evaluate and inform tobacco control strategies. The Smoking Toolkit Study (STS) was designed for this role. This paper describes the methodology of the STS and examines as far as possible the representativeness of the samples.Methods: The STS consists of monthly, cross sectional household interviews of adults aged 16 and over in England with smokers and recent ex-smokers in each monthly wave followed up by postal questionnaires three and six months later. Between November 2006 and December 2010 the baseline survey was completed by 90,568 participants. STS demographic, prevalence and cigarette consumption estimates are compared with those from the Health Survey for England (HSE) and the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) for 2007-2009.Results: Smoking prevalence estimates of all the surveys were similar from 2008 onwards (e. g 2008 STS = 22.0%, 95% C. I. = 21.4% to 22.6%, HSE = 21.7%, 95% C. I. = 20.9% to 22.6%, GLF = 20.8%, 95% C. I. = 19.7% to 21.9%), although there was heterogeneity in 2007 (chi-square = 50.30, p < 0.001). Some differences were observed across surveys within sociodemographic sub-groups, although largely in 2007. Cigarette consumption was virtually identical in all surveys and years.Conclusion: There is reason to believe that the STS findings (see http://www.smokinginengland.info) are generalisable to the adult population of England

Identity processes in smokers who want to quit smoking: a longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis

Health and self-regulatio

Mobile Phone Text Messages to Support People to Stop Smoking by Switching to Vaping: Codevelopment, Coproduction, and Initial Testing Study.

SMS text messages are affordable, scalable, and effective smoking cessation interventions. However, there is little research on SMS text message interventions specifically designed to support people who smoke to quit by switching to vaping. Over 3 phases, with vapers and smokers, we codeveloped and coproduced a mobile phone SMS text message program. The coproduction paradigm allowed us to collaborate with researchers and the community to develop a more relevant, acceptable, and equitable SMS text message program. In phase 1, we engaged people who vape via Twitter and received 167 responses to our request to write SMS text messages for people who wish to quit smoking by switching to vaping. We screened, adjusted, refined, and themed the messages, resulting in a set of 95 that were mapped against the Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation-Behavior constructs. In phase 2, we evaluated the 95 messages from phase 1 via a web survey where participants (66/202, 32.7% woman) rated up to 20 messages on 7-point Likert scales on 9 constructs: being understandable, clear, believable, helpful, interesting, inoffensive, positive, and enthusiastic and how happy they would be to receive the messages. In phase 3, we implemented the final set of SMS text messages as part of a larger randomized optimization trial, in which 603 participants (mean age 38.33, SD 12.88 years; n=369, 61.2% woman) received SMS text message support and then rated their usefulness and frequency and provided free-text comments at the 12-week follow-up. For phase 2, means and SDs were calculated for each message across the 9 constructs. Those with means below the neutral anchor of 4 or with unfavorable comments were discussed with vapers and further refined or removed. This resulted in a final set of 78 that were mapped against early, mid-, or late stages of quitting to create an order for the messages. For phase 3, a total of 38.5% (232/603) of the participants provided ratings at the 12-week follow-up. In total, 69.8% (162/232) reported that the SMS text messages had been useful, and a significant association between quit rates and usefulness ratings was found (χ =9.6; P=.002). A content analysis of free-text comments revealed that the 2 most common positive themes were helpful (13/47, 28%) and encouraging (6/47, 13%) and the 2 most common negative themes were too frequent (9/47, 19%) and annoying (4/47, 9%). In this paper, we describe the initial coproduction and codevelopment of a set of SMS text messages to help smokers stop smoking by transitioning to vaping. We encourage researchers to use, further develop, and evaluate the set of SMS text messages and adapt it to target populations and relevant contexts. [Abstract copyright: ©Vassilis Sideropoulos, Eleni Vangeli, Felix Naughton, Sharon Cox, Daniel Frings, Caitlin Notley, Jamie Brown, Catherine Kimber, Lynne Dawkins. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 27.09.2023.

Progression towards smoking cessation: qualitative analysis of successful, unsuccessful and never quitters

Background: Understanding how people transition between phases of not making a quit attempt to stopping smoking successfully is important in order to optimize interventions. This study aimed to explore differences in attitudes towards smoking and quitting among smokers and ex-smokers. Methods: Adult (age 18 and over) successful (n = 8), unsuccessful (n = 8) and never quitters (n = 7) were recruited through stop-smoking services in England. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and data were analysed using framework analysis. Results: Seven themes (starting to smoke, positive appraisal of smoking, responsibility for past/current smoking, negative effects of smoking, reasons to quit, process of quitting, and identity) were identified in all groups. Sub-group differences were explored and used to derive six typologies with descriptive characteristics: committed smokers, aware smokers, forced attempters, struggling attempters, pragmatic ex-smokers, and committed non-smokers. Using these typologies and the smallest number of differentiating factors between them (awareness of negative effects, motivation to stop and acceptance of responsibility), a parsimonious model of progression towards smoking cessation was developed. Conclusions: Awareness of negative effects, motivation and, crucially, a sense of commitment for taking responsibility to take actions towards behavior change may be important for whether smokers attempt to quit and progress to a successful quit attempt

Quitting Without Reporting Having Tried: Findings From a National Survey

Background: It is assumed that smokers rarely quit without 'attempting' to do so but the assumption does not appear to have been adequately tested. This study assessed the prevalence of reporting having stopped without reporting a quit attempt and the reasons given for this discrepancy. Methods: Data were collected from ex-smokers who said they had quit within the last 12 months during nationally representative household surveys conducted monthly between 2006-12. Results: Of the 1,892 ex-smokers who said that they had quit within the last 12 months, 13.9% (95%CI = 12.4%-15.5%) reported having made no serious quit attempts in that period. In a sub-group of 24 smokers who were asked why they had reported stopping without also reporting an attempt, nine cited inconsistency over timing; three reported stopping without attempting to do so; four did not consider it an 'attempt' because they had succeeded; and six had not ruled out the occasional cigarette in the future. Conclusions: A substantial minority of people who report having stopped in the past year may fail to report a corresponding quit attempt. However, quitting smoking without considering that one has tried appears to be rare. Instead, the most common reason for the discrepancy is inconsistent reporting of the timing of quit attempts. Copyright © The Author(s), published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australian Academic Press Pty Ltd 2014

Text messages to support e-cigarette use for smoking cessation: a tool for researchers

E-cigarettes are now the most popular quit aid chosen by smokers in England. Mobile phone text messages have been shown to be a useful tool in facilitating smoking cessation attempts by providing behaviour change support. To date, no published examples of text messages exist specifically aimed at smokers attempting to quit with e-cigarettes (vaping). As part of a parent study, we led an online call to vapers asking what advice and information they would give, in the form of a text message, to smokers wishing to quit smoking by vaping. We received 102 initial suggestions. Alongside behaviour change and smoking cessation experts, we checked the messages for readability and scientific accuracy, removed inappropriate messages, refined and edited others, and added additional messages. Messages were also grouped by theme and relevance to the stage of quitting. 95 messages were taken forward for further evaluation by 376 smokers, ex-smokers and vapers. Here we present the full set of 95 messages along with a final set of 78 that were selected and ordered for our parent study by two members of the research team along with four vapers. We encourage engagement with this resource and further validation from researchers interested in smoking cessation with e-cigarettes

The social psychology of social prescribing: a toolkit

This toolkit has been developed as a resource for organisations that are involved, or who are considering becoming involved in, Social Prescribing. This toolkit has been designed to be used in a variety of ways. In each section, we provide an overview of theory and evidence relating to a topic of importance to Social Prescribing. These sections are also related to a specific tool that can be used by those developing, commissioning or running Social Prescribing services. Alternatively, you can access the tools straight away, by going to the document Appendices. The tools are a mixture of signposting to additional resources, and/or lessons learned, and best practice guidance

Characteristics of smokers who have never tried to quit: evidence from the British Opinions and Lifestyle Survey

Background An understanding of the characteristics of smokers who have never tried to quit may be useful to help identify and target these individuals and encourage them to attempt to give up smoking. Using national survey data we investigated variables associated with smokers reporting never having tried to quit. Methods Using data from the 2007 and 2009 UK Office for National Statistics Opinions and Lifestyle Survey we identified all self-reported current smokers aged 16+. The primary outcome was response to the question ‘have you ever tried to quit smoking?’ Univariable and multivariable logistic regression quantified the association between this outcome and several potential explanatory variables, including age, sex, socioeconomic status, health status, smoking behaviour, and knowledge of the dangers of smoking. Results Desire to quit was the most significant independent predictor of whether a smoker reported never having tried to quit. Smokers who reported that their health was good or very good were more likely to report never having tried to quit than those whose health was fair, bad or very bad (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.05-2.41). Smokers who reported that no family members, friends or colleagues had been trying to get them to quit smoking in the last year were more likely to report never having tried to quit than those who reported that someone was trying to persuade them (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.09-2.28). Smokers who hadn’t received any cessation advice from a health professional in the last five years which they considered to be helpful were also more likely to report never having tried to quit. Conclusions Smokers who do not want to quit, who are in good health, whose friends and family are not trying to get them to quit, and who do not report receiving helpful advice to quit from a health professional, are more likely to report never having tried to quit