Eileen Streets Director Tobacco Control, The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, Liverpool
Tony Rock Lieutenant Colonel, Ministry Of Defence
Abstract
In the UK Armed Forces there was a year on year reduction in smoking prevalence between 2004 and 2008.
There has been an increase in smoking prevalence in the Army and the Royal Air Force from 2008, and in all services from 2010.
This increase may be associated with operational deployment to Afghanistan.
Despite the introduction of some smoking restrictions and the development of smoking cessation initiatives, smoking remains part of Service life and is strongly associated with drinking alcohol in social situations.
In some units up to 60% of recruits are smokers on entry.
Conventional messages around health, fitness and life expectancy may not ‘work’ with this population.
The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation and Liverpool University are working in partnership with the MOD to explore:
• Smoking attitudes within new recruits; trained personnel; post deployment personnel ; wives and partners
• A snapshot of the cultural aspects of smoking behavior set within the context of the military environment
• The impact of deployment on smoking behavior
• Key themes and messages which will influence uptake of stop smoking support
• Attitudes of non smokers
Source of funding: The project has been funded by a charitable donation to The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation (RCLCF) from Pfizer UK Foundation.
