Examining smoke-free coalitions in Armenia and Georgia: baseline community capacity

AbstractLocal coalitions can advance public health initiative but have not been widely used or well-studied in low- and middle-income countries. This paper provides (i) an overview of an ongoing matched-pairs community-randomized controlled trial in 28 communities in Armenia and Georgia (N = 14/country) testing local coalitions to promote smoke-free policies/enforcement and (ii) characteristics of the communities involved. In July –August 2018, key informants (e.g. local public health center directors) were surveyed to compare their non-communicable disease (NCD) and tobacco-related activities across countries and across condition (intervention/control). More than half of the informants (50.0–57.1%) reported their communi ties had programs addressing hypertension, diabetes, cancer and human papilloma virus, with 85.7% involving community education and 32.1% patient education programs. Eleven communities (39.3%) addressed tobacco control, all of which were in Georgia. Of those, all included public/community education and the majority (72.7–81.8%) provided cessation counseling/classes, school/youth prevention programs, healthcare provider training or activities addressing smoke-free environments. Informants in Georgia versus Armenia perceived greater support for tobacco control from various sectors (e.g. govern ment, community). No differences were found by condition assignment. This paper provides a foundation for presenting subsequent analyses of this ongoing trial. The...
Source: Health Education Research - Category: Research Source Type: research