The Smoke-free Homes Innovation Network (SHINE)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Stirling
Department Name: Health Sciences
Abstract
Background and context:
There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke (also known as passive smoking), which causes increased health risks for babies and children, including more severe asthma attacks, chest and ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome. In the UK, second-hand smoke exposure costs the NHS about £23 million each year, causing over 300, 000 GP consultations and nearly 10,000 hospital admissions. Children who grow up homes where smoking takes place are more likely than other children to experience delays in development, require time off school because of illness, and become smokers themselves. Nearly 20 years since smoke-free public places were introduced in the UK and Ireland, most exposure to second-hand smoke now takes place in homes, in poorer areas. In Scotland, for example, 15% of children living in poorer areas are exposed to second-hand smoke, compared to 1% of children living in wealthier areas. There is no recommended approach to tackle this challenge. Parents want to protect their children's health, but housing constraints (i.e. living in a 3rd floor flat), having friends and family who smoke, sole-parenting and lack of access to safe outdoor space are just some of the wider challenges that make this more difficult. Smoking can be seen as a way of coping with poverty and hardship (though in reality it often adds to financial stress). Creative approaches are required to better support families living in poorer areas, which take better account of the additional challenges they face in trying to create a smoke-free home.
Aim:
The SHINE network aims to increase our knowledge and understanding of the reasons why people in Ireland and the UK continue to smoke in the home.
How we will go about this:
The SHINE network will bring together researchers, policy makers, organisations and parents, providing a unique opportunity to develop plans for future research that are relevant and meaningful to families living in poorer areas. We will come together through a series of online meetings and workshops, sharing knowledge, experience and ideas. We will begin to develop future work that takes into account the barriers caused by education, housing and wider life circumstances that can make it particularly difficult for families to create a smoke-free home.We will hold several discussions with parents in the UK and in Ireland to find out more about the reasons why, when and where people smoke in the home, and the types of support that would help them to change their home smoking behaviours. These findings will feed back into network discussions, to make sure that our ideas for future work are relevant to families living in poorer areas of the UK and Ireland. From the beginning, we will develop ways to keep SHINE running after the 12 months of funding has finished, so that we can keep working to find ways to better support parents who want to protect their family from second-hand smoke and create a smoke-free family home.
The information the network will provide:
The network will develop ideas for new, creative approaches to tackling the challenge of reducing the number of people who smoke in the home in the UK and ROI. Including families in discussions will ensure that ideas for future research, policy and practice are tailored to the needs of people living in poorer areas. SHINE will provide new scientific understanding of how best to support families to create a smoke-free home. We hope that many of the networks findings will be of relevant to professionals working in other countries around the world, where second-hand smoke exposure levels remain high. We will share our findings widely through presentations to various audiences, attendance at conferences, a lay summary of findings, through SHINE webpages we will develop, and through social media, to make sure they have wide reach and impact.
There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke (also known as passive smoking), which causes increased health risks for babies and children, including more severe asthma attacks, chest and ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome. In the UK, second-hand smoke exposure costs the NHS about £23 million each year, causing over 300, 000 GP consultations and nearly 10,000 hospital admissions. Children who grow up homes where smoking takes place are more likely than other children to experience delays in development, require time off school because of illness, and become smokers themselves. Nearly 20 years since smoke-free public places were introduced in the UK and Ireland, most exposure to second-hand smoke now takes place in homes, in poorer areas. In Scotland, for example, 15% of children living in poorer areas are exposed to second-hand smoke, compared to 1% of children living in wealthier areas. There is no recommended approach to tackle this challenge. Parents want to protect their children's health, but housing constraints (i.e. living in a 3rd floor flat), having friends and family who smoke, sole-parenting and lack of access to safe outdoor space are just some of the wider challenges that make this more difficult. Smoking can be seen as a way of coping with poverty and hardship (though in reality it often adds to financial stress). Creative approaches are required to better support families living in poorer areas, which take better account of the additional challenges they face in trying to create a smoke-free home.
Aim:
The SHINE network aims to increase our knowledge and understanding of the reasons why people in Ireland and the UK continue to smoke in the home.
How we will go about this:
The SHINE network will bring together researchers, policy makers, organisations and parents, providing a unique opportunity to develop plans for future research that are relevant and meaningful to families living in poorer areas. We will come together through a series of online meetings and workshops, sharing knowledge, experience and ideas. We will begin to develop future work that takes into account the barriers caused by education, housing and wider life circumstances that can make it particularly difficult for families to create a smoke-free home.We will hold several discussions with parents in the UK and in Ireland to find out more about the reasons why, when and where people smoke in the home, and the types of support that would help them to change their home smoking behaviours. These findings will feed back into network discussions, to make sure that our ideas for future work are relevant to families living in poorer areas of the UK and Ireland. From the beginning, we will develop ways to keep SHINE running after the 12 months of funding has finished, so that we can keep working to find ways to better support parents who want to protect their family from second-hand smoke and create a smoke-free family home.
The information the network will provide:
The network will develop ideas for new, creative approaches to tackling the challenge of reducing the number of people who smoke in the home in the UK and ROI. Including families in discussions will ensure that ideas for future research, policy and practice are tailored to the needs of people living in poorer areas. SHINE will provide new scientific understanding of how best to support families to create a smoke-free home. We hope that many of the networks findings will be of relevant to professionals working in other countries around the world, where second-hand smoke exposure levels remain high. We will share our findings widely through presentations to various audiences, attendance at conferences, a lay summary of findings, through SHINE webpages we will develop, and through social media, to make sure they have wide reach and impact.
Description | Establishing the smoke-free homes innovation network (SHINE) has enabled those of us working on smoke-free homes research, practice and policy to make many new, widespread connections, for example with researchers with similar interests working in other parts of the UK and ROI, and with policy makers and with practitioners. Whilst we haven't been able to meet face to face as a network collectively because of the pandemic, we have built initial relationships, connections and partnerships online through SHINE. We have benefited from discussing new research ideas and policy initiatives together, based on different and overlapping perspectives and we have maximised opportunities to learn from each other. We will now grow our network to include colleagues internationally, building on our initial success and encouraging the development of new working relationships to further our understanding of the ways to best support people to create smoke-free homes. |
Exploitation Route | We do not have research outcomes, as this was a networking grant. The key outcome of this funding is our SHINE network, which we have developed successfully, which will now be led by the University of Stirling. The SHINE network has established itself as a network of value to others (academics, practitioners and policy makers) as a place to disseminate research findings, discuss novel ideas, and develop future funding applications that address the need for comprehensive, inter-sectoral approaches to smoke-free homes research. With ongoing input and engagement from international colleagues, moving forward, we anticipate that the network will go from strength to strength. |
Sectors | Healthcare Other |
URL | https://www.shine.ac.uk |
Description | Participation in the Scottish Government Tobacco Control Plan Short Life Working Group |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Description | A Pilot Randomised Control Trial Of An Intervention To Reduce Children's Exposure To Second-hand Smoke In The Home In Disadvantaged Communities In Scotland |
Amount | £300,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | HIPS/22/25 |
Organisation | Chief Scientist Office |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2023 |
End | 11/2025 |
Description | An overview of progress on reducing second-hand smoke exposure in Northern Ireland and policy options for the future. A report to inform the end of term review of the Northern Ireland Tobacco Control Strategy 2012-2022. |
Amount | £11,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Institute of Public Health |
Sector | Public |
Country | Ireland |
Start | 07/2022 |
End | 03/2023 |
Description | PIECES - Towards Large-Scale Adaption and Tailored Implementation of Evidence-Based Primary Cancer Prevention Programmes in Europe and Beyond |
Amount | £321,067 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 10079747 |
Organisation | Innovate UK |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2023 |
End | 05/2027 |
Description | Collaboration to build an international smoke-free homes network |
Organisation | Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Our partners Prof Esteve Fernandez and Olena Tigova, with whom we have worked on smoke-free homes projects over the past 15 years, are collaborating with us to build on the success of SHINE and further develop it into an international network. We have successfully submitted an abstract for a workshop on smoke-free homes policy and practice directions at the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco International Conference which takes place in Edinburgh at the end of March. Here we will relaunch the network as an international entity. |
Collaborator Contribution | Ideas on the future aim and workplan of SHINE, and co-chairing the SRNT-E workshop. |
Impact | N/A other than the conference workshop mentioned above (which takes place on the 20th March, so will be reported on next year) |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | The impact of E-cigarettes on Childhood Health Outcomes (ECHO) study |
Organisation | University College Dublin |
Department | School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science |
Country | Ireland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This study, funded by the Science Foundation Ireland, examines the impact of e-cigarette use during pregnancy on health outcomes in young children. I am a named collaborator as the SHINE network lead, and will provide access to this major international network of researchers in smoking related research and assist with dissemination of the data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Prof Desmond Cox - Study lead Prof Patricia Fitzpatrick - Academic expert in the area of public health medicine, epidemiology and biomedical statistics - Research design, supervisory role on all aspects of this large-scale prospective cohort study, guidance on collecting growth measurements and other datasets Prof Cecily Kelleher- Academic public health medical expert with expertise in birth cohort study design and implementation - Research design, supervisory role on all aspects of this large-scale prospective cohort study, guidance on collecting growth measurements and other datasets. Dr Ricardo Segurado - Biostatistician - power calculations, research design, supervision of statistical analysis Dr Michelle Downes - Academic neuropsychologist - research design, selection and interpretation of neurocognitive assessments, supervision of neuropsychological assessments. Supervision of PhD candidate in psychology. ? Prof Shane Higgins - Master of the National Maternity Hospital - will facilitate the conduct of research and data collection within the hospital. ? Prof Fergal Malone - Master of the Rotunda Hospital - will facilitate the conduct of research and data collection within the hospital. Prof Tim Coleman - Professor of primary care - is an international expert in the area of smoking in pregnancy and will assist the research team with development of the study protocol and provide expert knowledge and experience to the project. ? Dr Kate Frazer - has worked with many of the maternity hospitals previously on smoking related research and her experience will be invaluable to the project. |
Impact | None yet |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Development of the SHINE twitter account |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Dr Rachel O'Donnell established the SHINE Twitter account in 2021, which has 95 followers at the time of writing from a range of policy, research and practice disciplines. Our Twitter account has increased the reach and visibility of the network during it's early development phase when membership has been closed to founding members. The Twitter page helped us to highlight open SHINE events, including our webinars and will be invaluable as we broaden the SHINE network to include international membership over the coming year. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://twitter.com/SFHsResearch |
Description | Development of the SHINE website |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The ESRC agreed we could use underspend on travel to support development of the SHINE website, which was finalised in March 2022 and is now live. The website is fundamental to our plan to sustain and further develop the network moving forward, which was a key consideration to be demonstrated in our initial funding application. With agreement from founding members and the Co-PI Dr Kate Frazer (University College Dublin), Rachel O'Donnell (Co-PI), Sean Semple and Ruaraidh Dobson from the University of Stirling will maintain the website moving forward. We have also agreed to adapt the SHINE acronym from Smoke-free homes Innovation Network to Smoke-free homes International Network and will develop a new logo for the website and twitter account on this basis. Moving forward, SHINE membership will be open to international policy, research and practice colleagues with an interest in smoke-free homes work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.shine.ac.uk |
Description | Introductory SHINE workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Our introductory workshop for founding members was held on 27th April 2021. At this workshop, Dr Rachel O'Donnell outlined the rationale for the network and planned activities across 2021-22. Dr Kate Frazer spoke about the multidisciplinary approach to the network and plans for PPI involvement. We identified areas that the SHINE network should prioritise for next 12 months, what we can do to progress the priority areas identified, and topics for future SHINE webinars/events. Outcomes or impacts: Discussions held during this workshop led to publication of the Smoke-free homes Innovation Charter: Priorities for future collaboration blog in Tobacco Control (August 2021). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://blogs.bmj.com/tc/2021/08/04/smoke-free-homes-innovation-network-shine-charter-priorities-for... |
Description | Public involvement discussion 1 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr O'Donnell conducted a discussion group with five members of the public through existing links with the third sector organisation Fast Forward. The discussion focused on their views and experiences of smoking in the home, and the ways individuals could be better supported to create a smoke-free home in the future (thinking about policy, practice and research). This group involved fathers specifically, who are under represented in smoke-free homes research. This face to face group generated interest, questions and discussion, and those involved have been asked to be invited to future public involvement opportunities on this topic area. These discussions are shaping the development of a funding application in preparation to the Chief Scientist Office (to be submitted in June), which builds on SHINE discussions on the importance of innovative approaches to developing smoke-free home interventions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Public involvement discussion 2 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr O'Donnell engaged with the University of Nottingham Tobacco and Nicotine public involvement Group (TANG) to learn more about their views on future smoke-free home initiatives (policy, research and practice) that could be developed to reduce second-hand smoke exposure in the home and elsewhere. These discussions are shaping the development of a funding application in preparation to the Chief Scientist Office (to be submitted in June), which builds on SHINE discussions on the importance of innovative approaches to developing smoke-free home interventions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | SHINE Meeting with Scottish Government Tobacco Control Lead |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Dr Rachel O'Donnell, Dr Sean Semple and Dr Ruaraidh Dobson set up a SHINE meeting with the Tobacco Control Lead at the Scottish Government in November 2021, to build on existing discussions held within SHINE workshop and webinar events. This meeting provided an opportunity to discuss specific opportunities to develop future policy initiatives on smoke-free homes in Scotland, focusing on the establishment of a new national smoke-free homes target to reduce the percentage of children living in homes where people smoke inside to zero by 2030, with associated annual tracking of reductions in objective cotinine levels in children and non-smoking adults, alongside UK-wide ambitions for reducing smoking prevalence to <5%. Policymakers in Scotland had previously achieved similar improvements with a 2014 world-leading target to reduce the proportion of children exposed to SHS at home to under 6% by 2020. As a result of this meeting, Drs O'Donnell, Semple and Dobson were invited to sit on the Scottish Government's Tobacco Action Plan Short life Working Group (see separate entry under -influence on policy, practice, patients and the public'). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | SHINE webinar 1: Learning from International Smoke-free Homes Research |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Our first SHINE Webinar was held on 31st August 2021, led by the University of Stirling and attended by over 70 delegates. We were joined by Prof Kamran Siddiqi, University of York (SHINE Co-I), who presented findings and learning from MCLASS II, a large trial of smoke-free home interventions in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dr Emilia Abidin, Universiti Putra Malaysia, introduced the MyFamily MySmoke project, which aims to improve understanding of why men smoke at home in Malaysia and how best to support families in creating a smoke-free home. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.shine.ac.uk/webinars/webinar-1/ |
Description | SHINE webinar 2: Learning from International Smoke-free Homes Research |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Webinar 2 was held on 22nd September 2021, led by the University of Stirling and attended by over 40 delegates. We were joined by Olena Tigova and Prof Esteve Fernández, Catalan Institute of Oncology, WHO Collaborating Centre for Tobacco Control, who presented on current progress regarding smoke-free homes in Europe. Dr Sean Semple, University of Stirling, presented on whether we are making progress on measuring second-hand smoke in homes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.shine.ac.uk/webinars/webinar-2/ |
Description | SHINE workshop hosted at the Society for Social Medicine and Population Health Conference, 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The rationale for this workshop was to bring SSM delegates with an interest in tobacco control, systems-based approaches and social science to share progress made, identify knowledge gaps and develop a consensus on priority areas for smoke-free homes work. We funded one ECR place to attend the workshop, and associated conference. This workshop was led by Dr Rachel O'Donnell and Dr Sean Semple, at the University of Stirling. We shared an overview of the established/emerging smoke-free homes evidence base, and discussed with attendees research ideas and methodologies to tackle the wider social and environmental barriers to creating a smoke-free home. This interactive workshop lasted for 1.5 hours, with presentations limited to those required to introduce the topic area, and so this approach enabled questions and in-depth discussions on the day. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://registrations.hg3conferences.co.uk/hg3/frontend/reg/tOtherPage.csp?pageID=72848&ef_sel_menu=... |
Description | Tobacco Control Journal Blog: Smoke-free homes Innovation Network (SHINE) Charter: Priorities for future collaboration |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | During our first SHINE workshop, held in April 2021, network members discussed key priorities for future smoke-free homes research, policy and practice in the UK and in Ireland. Building on these discussions, and in further consultation with members, finalised priorities were published as the 'Smoke-free homes Innovation Network (SHINE) Charter: Priorities for future collaboration', a peer-reviewed blog published in Tobacco Control in August 2021. This sparked interest and discussion among group members and more widely with international colleagues working in this area. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://blogs.bmj.com/tc/2021/08/04/smoke-free-homes-innovation-network-shine-charter-priorities-for... |