News

NDRI’s Brief Intervention Training for Tobacco Smoking Project has come to an end, but not before more than 4500 health professionals completed the training on tobacco brief interventions in health settings.

The interactive online teaching package, the development of which was led by NDRI in 2010, grew out of a workforce development initiative funded by WA Health, following a change in regulations that banned smoking on health campuses across the state, to help health staff address tobacco use among patients.

“The resource was interactive, designed to allow busy clinical staff to undertake the program in short interludes over several shifts, or completed in one go, and was linked to resources in WA Health and elsewhere to keep it up to date,” NDRI’s Professor Steve Allsop said.

“We were stunned by the response. In just a few months we had reached double the number of staff we had managed to reach in face-to-face workshops. The feedback was very positive and it became included in teaching courses in some universities. Indeed, it was rated highly in a published international review of on-line tobacco interventions.

“This experience showed that online programs that are engaging and interactive, and designed to fit into people’s work schedules, are very attractive for some people and modest investments can attract large numbers of people, including from remote areas of the country.”

Since 2010, 4518 health professionals have completed the training. While most were in Western Australia, the program has also reached Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East. The replacement program can be found at https://education.quit.org.au.