Derbarl Yerrigan
Health Service Inc

Smoking Cessation in Pregnancy 2008 - 2009 - Joan Fraser

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women.

The Study aims to:

• Find out what things influenced Aboriginal Women and Torres Strait Islander Women who are pregnant and who smoked.
• Help those women who smoked to try to quit smoking with help from their Dr and specially trained Aboriginal Health Worker.
• The study is being done by researchers from the University of Newcastle and the University of Sydney and the General Practioners and board of Management of the DYHS.
• The study has already been running in Aboriginal an Islander Health Services in Cairns and Townsville for the past 2 years.

Why is the research being done ?

We want to help  these women who smoke while they are pregnant to quit .This study will help health care workers to understand the best way s to help Aboriginal an Torres Strait Islander Women quit smoking while they are pregnant .

Who can take part in the research?

Women who attend DYHS for health care at or before 20wks gestation and are aged 16 or over will be invited to take part in the study.

Taking part in this reseach is totally their choice they may withdraw from the study any time.

• Taking part in the study was randomly allocated to a group
• Half of the women in this part of the study received the normal care provided by the health service during pregnancy and the other half received extra (additional care) intensive quit smoking support from their G.P. and Health worker.
• We did this to see if our extra support helps women quit smoking or reduce their smoking during their pregnancy.
• Some participants was provided with nicotine gum to help them quit smoking which was not a success , but the most direct health benefit is being able to cut down or quit smoking them selves as a result of this study .

We enrolled 35 participants and with 4 successfully quit smoking.

Smoking - Chronic Disease Project. 2008 -2009 By Joan Fraser

The Research is done in conjunction with Derbarl Yerrigan Health Services and The University of Sydney, with the approval from the Board of Management.

Why is the research being done?

The Reseach asks about  health check ups by your doctor, similar to an adult health check e.g. how often you come to the clinic for screenings , an health factors such as exercise, smoking and alcohol.
This information will help your doctor know what health issues to talk to you about to improve your health which might help you .It hope to also help DYHS to be able to better respond to your needs as patients.

Who can take part in the research?

• The information was collected from clients aged 18years and over in the waiting rooms doing face to face interview surveys at all the 3 DYHS sites  since Jan 2008 to August 2009.
• Participating in this study is voluntary and all information is confidential.
• We had collected 648 participants in the study.
• The Drs was also asked to do a separate survey about health factors of the participants in the study.
• All information is presented back to DYHS when the data and analysis is completed.