NOVEL METHODOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE NEW ZEALAND ARM OF THE ITC PROJECT Richard Edwards, on behalf of the NZ ITC Project Team

Project Team Nick Wilson (PI), Tony Blakely, George Thomson, Richard Edwards, Jo Peace. Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington Chris Bullen, Hayden McRobbie. Clinical Trials Research Unit, School of Population Health, University of Auckland Ron Borland. VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control, The Cancer Council Victoria Sharon Ponniah. Public Health Intelligence, Ministry of Health Heather Gifford. Whakauae Research Services, Whanganui

Funders and acknowledgements Health Research Council Ministry of Health (Public Health Intelligence) Advisory Group Other ITC project teams, particularly Geoff Fong and Michael Cummings for slides

Aim and structure of presentation To describe the key features and unique methodolgical aspects of the NZ arm of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Survey (ITC) Outline –Background about international ITC project –Methods for NZ arm –Unique features of NZ arm Over-sampling of Māori Linkage with NZ Health Survey –Overview of progress to date

History, design and methodology International collaboration Aims to evaluate the effects of national tobacco control policies and build and disseminate the evidence base for tobacco control policies Started in US, Canada, Australia and UK in 2002, now more widespread (14 + countries) Cohorts of smokers (2000+), surveyed annually Common, pre-specified theory driven conceptual model Longitudinal analysis of change within country cohort and between countries (quasi-experimental design) Sub-projects include global cigarette repository, METC Policy Evaluation handbook

New ITC additions: Mexico, China, Ireland, France, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Poland, New Zealand ….

Methods for NZ ITC Project Smokers recruited from NZ Health Survey Telphone survey carried out by Roy Morgan Research (approx 40 mins) Questionnaire uses most core ITC questions + some additional Qs

Novel methodological features of NZ arm 1.Large Māori sample 2.Linkage to NZ Health Survey

Large Māori sample Estimated 40%+ of cohort will be Māori –Allows separate analysis of Māori sample with equal explanatory power –Opportunity to address issues of specific interest to Māori e.g. Cultural influences on attitudes to and impact of policies Reasons for increased use of roll your own tobacco Influence of whanau on quitting behaviour –Unique findings internationally as other ITC arms do not have over-sampling and have only small numbers of indigenous peoples

Linkage to NZ Health Survey Several potential advantages –Shared expertise and collaboration with Ministry of Health –Improved and more cost-effective recruitment –Information on non-responders –Data linkage will allow additional analyses in NZ arm e.g. linking change in beliefs and behaviours to: Household composition & detailed socio-economic status Physical and mental health (including presence of smoking-related conditions) Health of children in the household Alcohol use Health care utilisation Experience of racism and discrimination

Key areas of interest Support for key tobacco control policies (tax, point of sale, light/mild, smokefree homes/cars etc) Comparison of RYO and factory made cigarette smokers Impact of graphic health warnings Quit attempts, rates and quit-related attitudes + use of Quitline in relation to policy change Impact of media campaigns

Progress to date Recruitment underway Response rate among smokers contacted about 60% (about 35% overall) Interview too long, so cut slightly Cigarettes provided to repository Very interesting preliminary data, though not yet analysed in any detail

Conclusions NZ ITC project = major opportunity to generating the evidence base for tobacco control policy in NZ Additional suggestions for questions and analysis ideas welcome Help with analysis! –Keen to explore opportunities for research capacity development

THANK YOU