Community Engagement Community engagement is important for population health promotion programs because according to the evidence this creates successful activities which leads to better outcomes. Partnerships between TIS program funded organisations and members of the communities they work with is empowering for community. Activities and calls to action can be tailored to the values of the community. This gives the community ownership of the program leading to greater engagement with the TIS message. Partnerships Building community connections is an important part of activity planning. Co-creating activities with community leaders, community groups or health service providers is part of the program’s success. The community should be engaged at all stages of activity design and development including resource development. You can collaborate to develop any of your activities with community, including mass media and social media campaigns, other social media activities, community education programs, and supporting smoke-free environments. You can read more about building connections on the planning page here. Role models, champions, and ambassadors Evidence suggests that one important reason many adults decide to quit smoking is because they want to be a role model for children, grandchildren, or other family and friends. There is good evidence that role models can champion smoke free behaviours, prevent uptake of smoking and support others to make their homes and cars smoke and vape free. According to the Talking about the Smokes (TATS) study most people who smoked daily (90%) agreed that not smoking sets a good example to children. Recent evidence tells us that local champions can increase uptake of quit supports like Quitline. Deadly Choices provide a good example of the successful use of champions or ambassadors for Tobacco Control. Their brand ambassadors are sporting heroes who showcase their healthy choices and encourage others to follow their lead. Ambassadors, champions and role models do not need to be famous. Local heroes can also help engage the community and share the TIS message effectively, persuading others to follow their lead and quit for good – or never start smoking or vaping. See below for examples of TIS teams using local ambassadors in their campaigns. Community events Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service’s Quit B Fit smoke-free signage at a community event An important way of engaging with community is through interactions at community events such as: World No Tobacco Day NAIDOC Week National Sorry Day local carnivals and sporting events. Engagement starts with making sure community is onboard with this being a smoke-free event. Any opportunity to reduce second-hand smoke is a good investment because there is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke, and smoke-free events both denormalise smoking and encourage people to think about quitting. The Talking About The Smokes (TATS) study found that support for smoke-free festivals and events is strong in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly among those who don’t smoke: for people who have never smoked, support was 71% for people who used to smoke 65% for people who do not smoke daily 70% half of all people who smoke daily were in favour of smoke-free events (51%). At the event, keep people engaged with the message by including call outs over the information system reminding people why this is a smoke and vape free event. If there are designated smoking/vaping areas point them to these – remember it is much better if these are outside of the venue and away from the entrance. You might also promote your stall. Make sure you agree this with the event organisers in advance so that it doesn’t get overlooked on the day. Have banners and smoke/vape free messaging across the venue. Tobacco education stalls Having a stall at the event will allow you to further engage the community with your message. Try to have fun and interesting activities for kids and adults that are engaging but informative about smoking/vaping. You might run a competition, use resources such as jar of tar, smoker’s lungs model, a model cigarette or vape to encourage people to come to your stall to find out more. Have plenty of information and health promotion collateral for them to take away. Call for people to make a pledge to be smoke free at home and in the car. Central Australian Aboriginal Congress’s TIS team at a NAIDOC Week event Talking about smoking and vaping to community Very brief advice (VBA) is an evidence-based approach to increasing quit attempts. The purpose of VBA is to engage with people who smoke and get them to think about quitting. The aim is not to tell people how they should behave (quit smoking), but to guide them to the quit support that is available. VBA focuses on offering help by providing: information about where to go for help to quit encouragement and support for change a referral to quit support. The video below provides examples of how TIS Workers can engage with someone who smokes or vapes and get them to think about quitting, guiding them to the available support. You can also view the individual examples of yarning with someone at a mums and bubs group; a footy carnival; and a school vaping session. VBA is an opportunistic, non-intrusive and respectful approach which can be used by anyone, in any setting, including community settings. VBA is not smoking cessation therapy and does not require formal counselling skills or knowledge of the stages of behaviour change because: assessing clinical factors such as how much the person smokes or their level of addiction is not important because there is no safe level of smoking evaluating stage of behaviour change is not important because most people who smoke know it is bad for them, want to stop, and have probably tried to quit already. In simple terms VBA is a short conversation lasting from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes during which you: Ask the person if they smoke Advise them about the best way to quit (behavioural support (e.g. Quitline) combined with stop smoking medication like NRT) Act by directing them to locally available support (provide information or referral). Because of the opportunistic non-clinical nature of VBA, anyone who has contact with people who smoke from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities should be able to provide this including: staff from health organisations, who are the first point of contact for clients (e.g., receptionists and drivers) staff from non-health organisations that have regular contact with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients smoke-free ambassadors or other volunteers who work on community events/outreach activities. According to a review of the evidence, brief simple advice about quitting smoking increases the likelihood that someone who smokes will successfully quit and remain smoke-free 12 months later. Monitoring and evaluation This document provides TIS teams with examples of eligible activities for the July 2024-2027 funding period and how to monitor and evaluate them. It includes examples of community engagement activities and how they can be monitored and evaluated.
