How to successfully implement tobacco use prevention and cessation programs aimed at vulnerable populations: New insights from the project DCAP in France

摘要

Background:Smoking prevention interventions outcomes remain unequal in France. Yet, there are few research details on how to implement interventions to prevent smoking or assist smoking cessation targeting vulnerable groups, like young people or disadvantaged groups. Conversely, large amounts of experiential knowledge from health promotion, social and education workers tackling this issue remain unknown and untapped. To bridge these gaps, the French Society for Public Health designed the project DCAP.Objectives:Initiated in 2019, DCAP consists in capitalizing, i.e. collecting, documenting and circulating, experiential knowledge from practitioners who implement tobacco prevention interventions (TPI) at the local level, for either young and/or vulnerable people. The project aims at building up original knowledge from field actions; documenting how TPI unfold in various contexts; sharing experiences, fostering collaboration and supporting professional practices. Forty interventions will be documented until 2021.Methods:DCAP follows three main steps: 1) identifying promising TPI nationwide, 2) documenting selected TPI, and 3) sharing knowledge on TPI via an online portal. To document TPI, DCAP uses in-depth semi-structured interviews, following a guideline designed to capture and report the key mechanisms that influence how TPI unfold and their outcomes (context, partnerships, barriers and levers, ethics).Results:Preliminary results provide cross-cutting insights on current trends in smoking prevention in France and highlight the momentum the monthly nationwide campaign brings to local projects (Moi(s) sans Tabac). Successful strategies often rely on partnerships between health professionals and other workers. Practitioners face 3 types of issues: 1) sustaining long-term cross-sectorial partnerships; 2) building support for TPI on-site (in prisons, emergency housing etc.); and 3) innovating and adjusting TPI to the needs of specific groups.Conclusions:Documenting interventions that work for vulnerable people is crucial. DCAP contributes to valuing experiential knowledge in smoking prevention and cessation. DCAP also contributes to ECTC goals of promoting tobacco prevention strategies as inclusive as possible.