Ontario Tobacco Research Unit: Research Annual Report 2003

Section Head: Dr. Roberta Ferrence

Since its inception in 1993 as the research component of the Ontario Tobacco Strategy, the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit (OTRU) has been a focal point for an active, tobacco-control research network in Ontario. The principal sponsor of OTRU is the Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto. CAMH is one of three co-sponsors of the unit, making in-kind contributions of investigator and staff time, facilities and administrative support. Funding comes from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, in-kind contributions from sponsoring institutions and various external grants and contracts.

The OTRU network is a university-based, multi-disciplinary team of six principal investigators, 32 co-investigators, 24 collaborating investigators, many affiliates, consultants and Ontario Tobacco Strategy partners.

Following our external review in 2002, we began an extensive strategic planning process to review activities in the five functional areas based on our mandate (Program and Policy Research and Development, Monitoring and Evaluation, Teaching and Training, Information Analysis and Dissemination, and Networking and Communications) and to develop a research agenda for tobacco control in Ontario.

Program and Policy Research and Development 

We continue to support tobacco control research in Ontario by informing and supporting our investigator base. In the past year, we developed and implemented the OTRU Investigator Award Program for research in tobacco control. Through this program, we earmarked funds for four awards of up to $7,500 to OTRU affiliated co-investigators and collaborating investigators.

New Research

We presented findings from OTRU research projects at several conferences. These included results from a national study on second-hand smoke in the home, a study of pharmacists' role in advising clients about smoking and cessation and an examination of connections between the tobacco industry and universities in Canada.

Based on an analysis of data from the Ontario Student Drug Use Survey, we reported that students who perceived themselves as overweight and engaged in weight-control behaviours were two to six times more likely to smoke than those who didn't have this perception. The findings were stronger for young women than for young men.

In our second-hand smoke study, we found that having at least one non-smoker and having children in the home reduced the likelihood of exposure to second-hand smoke by almost half and increased attitudes favourable to controlling it. Further, we found that a majority of Canadians support banning smoking in vehicles carrying children, and about 40 per cent support banning smoking in homes where children live.

Monitoring and Evaluation

This year, our Monitoring and Evaluation group issued our Annual Monitoring Report as a four-part Monitoring and Evaluation Series that examined progress of the Ontario Tobacco Strategy.

This series relies on qualitative and quantitative evidence to document changes in the province's tobacco control climate, including policy and program initiatives and tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours. Two principal sources of data for our series are the annual CAMH Monitor and the biennial Ontario Student Drug Use Survey.

Teaching and Training

Involving students and graduates early in their careers is an essential strategy for developing a future generation of researchers and practitioners with interests and skills in tobacco control.

In the past year, our student-related initiatives included individual thesis research and field practica under the supervision of OTRU investigators. We expanded the University of Toronto graduate-level course, "Tobacco and Health: From Cells to Society," developed by Drs. Roberta Ferrence and Joanna Cohen.

We also continue to video-conference the course through our Eli Lilly Learning Centre; in the past year, we offered this option to students at the Universities of Toronto and Waterloo, McGill University and the University of British Columbia.

This course gives students a comprehensive overview of tobacco and tobacco-related issues from a public health perspective. Topics include patterns of tobacco use, nicotine addiction, genetic factors, determinants of smoking, health effects, social and economic impacts, treatment issues, prevention, and program and policy issues.

OTRU is now a collaborator on two CIHR strategic transdisciplinary tobacco training program grants, including one with three partners -- the University of Waterloo, the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto -- that focuses on tobacco control research, and another training program grant, funded this spring through CAMH and the University of Toronto, that focuses on training clinicians in tobacco research on special populations, such as people with mental health and substance use problems.

Through the OTRU Graduate Studentships for Research in Tobacco Control Program, initiated in 2001 to increase tobacco research capacity in Ontario, we offered 10 student-ships of $7,000 each in the 2002/2003 academic year.

Information Analysis and Dissemination

We continue to disseminate working papers and current abstracts on tobacco control to other researchers, public health professionals and policy makers in Ontario, through our library services and monthly mailings.
Networking and Communications

This year, OTRU investigators and staff continued to present new research findings at scientific conferences, workshops, seminars and lectures.

We held networking events and provided conference displays, media and electronic communication; we developed and disseminated various OTRU products, including several working papers, research and information updates and issues of current abstracts on tobacco. We presented several papers at the National Conference on Tobacco or Health held in Ottawa in December, 2002; at this conference, we held a reception for investigators and partners to honour our studentship recipients.

Our Web site and listserv continue to provide key information on funding and research events, as well as discussion on research issues for 152 investigators and practitioners across the province and beyond. In 2002/2003, we reviewed and updated the content and look of our Web site, which receives 2,000 to 3,000 visits per month.

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