Culturally tailored tobacco control: Aboriginal community perspectives in Sydney, Australia

A community-based project was developed to support quit attempts and denormalise smoking in Aboriginal communities. This qualitative study evaluates the effectiveness of project strategies, messages and the partnership process, and explores impacts observed by Aboriginal community members, complementing findings from a quantitative evaluation.

The study comprised five focus groups (40 participants) and 14 in-depth interviews (with 15 community members). Data were analysed thematically by manual and NVivo software methods.

Results demonstrate that the project attracted community attention, was well recalled and messages were considered convincing and persuasive. Participants reported being more likely to quit and to discuss smoking with family and friends, and noticed that many people were quitting. Participants observed an increase in asking people not to smoke in the home and fewer people smoking at events, but noted that many smokers struggled to stay quit. The partnership and participation of Aboriginal Health Workers were viewed as crucial.

The qualitative findings reinforce quantitative evaluation findings suggesting that the project contributed to denormalising smoking and motivating quit attempts.

The evaluation provided insight into how the project changed attitudes and motivated community members to make quit attempts and provided ideas to meet the ongoing challenge.