INTRODUCTION:
Vaping prevalence has increased significantly in recent years, particularly among young people, with more than 150,000 young Australians now vaping nearly every day. With changes to vaping legislation at both Federal and State levels, accessing vapes is increasingly difficult. With many young people already dependent on nicotine from vaping, and evidence that vaping is a gateway to smoking, it is imperative that governments invest in evidence-based communication and support for young people to prompt behaviour change and prevent smoking uptake. We sought to develop a series of evidence-based messages about vaping cessation that young people find persuasive, relevant and believable.

METHODS:
Focus groups were conducted with young Australians (n=35) who vaped regularly or had quit vaping. Participants reported their experiences of vaping and their preferences for vaping cessation support. From the focus group findings, a series of messages to encourage vaping cessation were developed. In late 2024, approximately 400 young Australians will complete an online survey and rate the persuasiveness, relevance and believability of these messages.

RESULTS:
Focus group participants identified key issues related to vaping cessation, which were developed into messages. Messages focused on: why to quit (health benefits), how to quit (triggers, tips for quitting) nicotine dependency (withdrawal symptoms, cravings), and mental health (managing mental health while quitting, mental health benefits of quitting). Quantitative and qualitative results from the online survey to test these messages will be presented. These findings will be translated into recommendations about what types of vaping cessation messages young people perceive as acceptable.

CONCLUSION & IMPLICATIONS:
The evidence-based vaping cessation messages presented in this research will be suitable for multiple purposes, including face-to-face conversations, public education campaigns, and educational contexts. All these factors are critical for supporting young people to quit vaping and preventing youth smoking initiation amidst a changing legislative landscape.

Introduction: Peer and family support could play an important role in people quitting smoking and/or vaping. To better aid the effort of people in a supporter role (“supporters”) and design appropriate cessation tools and resources to facilitate that support, it is crucial to better understand supporters. This study explores the channel preferences and goals of supporters, and if these differ by age.

Methods: Data were from a cross-sectional survey of Australian adults aged 18+ years using the Life in AustraliaTM probability-based panel (n=7,469). Respondents reported whether they had supported family or friends in quitting smoking and/or vaping in the past two years, the resources/services they used for support, and their goals when accessing specific resources/services. Supporters were segmented by age, to help identify any differences in their preference and goals.

Results: Nineteen percent of Australian adults reported having supported someone to quit in the past two years. While most supporters (66%) reported that they did not access any resources/services, 17% accessed a health professional, 10% the Quitline, 6% used websites and 2% apps. This pattern was broadly similar across age groups. Main goals varied by resource or service accessed. Among supporters who accessed health professionals, 39% of them identified their main goal was to “find out more about the supports available to share”. On average, around one-third of supporters who accessed either the Quitline, websites or apps identified their primary goal was to “find tips on how to quit that I can share”. Across these resources/services, the main goals were broadly consistent across age groups except for websites. For instance, the primary goal for accessing a website among 18–24-year-old supporters was to “learn tips for having a conversation” (62%).

Conclusion: Insights from this research can help inform new smoking and vaping cessation tools and resources for supporters of people on their quitting journey.

No ifs, butts or loopholes: Strata law reform to address smoke drift

PROBLEM:
Residents of higher density strata housing are often exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke from neighbours. Unlike NSW, Queensland and Victoria, WA’s Strata Titles Act 1985 has no explicit provisions or model by-laws on smoking. In previous reviews of WA’s strata laws, the issue of smoking was ignored, with politicians citing a lack of visible community concern. In late 2024, the WA State Government announced a two-stage statutory review. We used this opportunity to undertake an advocacy campaign to amplify community voices and put smoke drift firmly on the reform agenda.

WHAT WE DID:
We sought to boost submissions from the general public using a combination of targeted advertising, earned media, stakeholder engagement, community engagement, strategic research and formal advocacy. We sought to capture media attention and provide local evidence. In an online survey, WA strata housing residents described how smoke drift affected their household and reported their support for making outdoor common areas smoke-free. Survey results were utilised in earned media and included in a formal submission to the consultation.

RESULTS:
The advocacy campaign was successful in highlighting the impact of smoke-drift on strata residents and elevating the priority of this issue among politicians. More than one-third of respondents had been bothered by neighbours smoking, with many expressing frustration and concerns about the health effects of exposure. We expect that compared with previous reviews, the current review will have received a larger number of submissions directly from community members.

LESSONS:
Multi-pronged advocacy that garners and measures community support is crucial for softening the ground for legislative reform and increasing political will. In the second stage of the review, we will engage in more direct political lobbying, which will be strengthened by the existing swell of community support.

Introduction: Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in Australia. Innovative and evidence-based measures are needed to meet the National Tobacco Strategy’s prevalence targets. One such measure is tobacco pack Health Promotion Inserts (HPIs), which are small cards containing positive and supportive messages that highlight the benefits of quitting and promote cessation resources and strategies. In 2025, Australia will become just the second country after Canada to require HPIs.
Methods: Four sequential studies were conducted over 2019 and 2020 to inform the development of Australia’s HPIs. Exploratory focus groups (N=25 people who smoke) examined responses to the overall concept of HPIs and to a range of message topics, styles and formats. Then, in a quantitative message testing study (N=430) 33 HPIs covering 11 distinct topics were rated on perceived effectiveness outcomes. A series of message refinement focus groups (N=54) elicited additional feedback on revised HPI messages. Finally, in a quantitative message testing study (N=562) 45 HPIs covering 10 topics were rated on perceived effectiveness outcomes, with ratings examined among the overall sample and among those of low socioeconomic status.
Results: The set of potential HPIs evolved across the four studies, with some topics and specific messages removed and others added. From this program of research, the 30 most promising written messages for HPIs were recommended to the Australian Government, 10 of which were adopted for use as the first 10 HPIs. The Australian Government then developed and subjected these HPIs to a final round of consumer testing.
Conclusion: Australia’s HPIs have been developed in line with recommendations drawn from a robust and iterative program of research that considered a large range of potential topics and messages. These HPIs will deliver evidence-based messages to all Australians who smoke, every time they open a new pack.

Introduction: Smoking rates in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+) communities are higher than those of the general population. Designed with and for LGBTQIA+ communities, the Quit with Pride campaign, a Quit Victoria first, centred around two concepts “Your quitting journey is as unique as you” and “Find your why”. The primary objective of the campaign was to raise awareness among people who smoke in LGBTQIA+ communities that quitting is achievable.
Partially overlapping in timing with a mass media campaign for Victorian people who smoke, Quit with Pride ran for seven weeks in mid-2024 across paid, earned and owned channels. Quit with Pride targeted Victorian LGBTQIA+ people who smoke, aged 18-49 years. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess whether the primary campaign objective had been met.
Methods: Data sources to evaluate the campaign included the Victorian Social Marketing Tracking Survey (online non-probability-based panel with 400 people who smoke or have recently quit; 64 people identified as LGBTQIA+), Victorian Quitline data, and interviews with community stakeholders.
Results: Maximum weekly recall of the campaign (at least one campaign element) was 61% among the target audience, higher than among the general population (28%). Among the campaign target audience: 88% agreed Quit with Pride was relevant to them, and 77% agreed the campaign made them feel that quitting is achievable. A 37% increase in self-referrals to the Quitline was recorded among those who identify as LGBTQIA+ during the campaign period relative to seven weeks pre-campaign. Stakeholders provided valuable insights to enhancing dissemination of future campaigns with LGBTQIA+ communities.
Conclusions: Responses to the Quit with Pride campaign were positive, and indicative of the campaign objective being met. These findings highlight the importance of campaigns targeting priority audiences alongside mass media campaigns for the general smoking population.

Joint presentation: Dr Nicola Ball, Yardhura Walani, Tobacco Free
Ms Renee Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Torres Health Indigenous Corporation.

Introduction
Indigenous excellence in tobacco resistance continues to flourish, in defiance of colonial and commercial drivers of tobacco and nicotine use. Communities are increasingly demanding more progressive measures to eliminate the tobacco and nicotine harms.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples hold solutions to generating a tobacco- and nicotine- free futures. This project maps Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander priorities generated across Queensland to identify key areas for action to ultimately eliminate tobacco and nicotine.

Methods
From April-October 2023, we conducted 39 individual and group interviews at 13 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations and events across Queensland with over 100 participants. Interview summaries for each site were returned to participants in an iterative validation process.
Participant ideas to reduce tobacco- and nicotine-related harm were collated from interview transcripts (n=364 concepts). Duplicates were removed and ideas collapsed into 25 discrete concepts that encompassed the breadth of data.
Participants will sort and rate the ideas gathered across Queensland in-person or online using concept mapping—a participatory, mixed-methods approach that leverages multi-dimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses within the Groupwisdom™ web-based platform. The analysis of sorted and rated concepts will help document community priority-setting and policy development with communities from local to state levels.

Results
Ideas generated by participants included education, higher taxation of the Tobacco Industry profits, integrated support pathways; driven by foundational principles of holistic, culturally-centred, strengths-based approaches. Goals for implementation included banning retail sales and a nicotine free generation.
We anticipate generating point maps, pattern matches and Go-Zones to visually represent the Community priorities with concept mapping ongoing.

Conclusion
Group concept mapping facilitates the visualisation and sharing of priorities with each individual’s contribution building to a consensus on a plan of action. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are prioritising prevention and stronger action to eradicate tobacco and nicotine as part of an ongoing resistance movement.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance
QAIHC and Yardhura Walani (YW) responded to QLD community priorities. Guided by Thiitu Tharrmay, YW’s governance group. Participants were provided transcripts for review, received local reports and a state-wide webinar. Feedback was integrated with ongoing engagement.