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Implementing smoke-free policies in low- and middle-income countries: A brief review and research agenda.

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:Some low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) struggle to implement smoke-free policies. We sought to review the academic and gray literature, and propose a research agenda to improve implementation of smoke-free policies and make them more effective in LMICs. METHODS:We reviewed 10 databases for variations of ('implementation' /'enforcement' /'compliance') and ('smoke-free' /'ban' /'restriction') and ('tobacco' /'smoking'). We also reviewed cited sources and the gray literature including non-governmental organization reports.We included articles that described problems that arose, attempted solutions, lessons learned, and research questions posed regarding smoke-free policy implementation in LMICs. We excluded studies of high-income countries, institution-level implementation, voluntary smoke-free policies, smoke-free homes, and outdoor smoke-free policies. RESULTS:The academic literature review led to 4931 unique articles, reduced to 1541 after title screening, 331 after abstract screening, and 101 after full-text review. The citation and gray literature review led to an additional 179 publications of which 67 met the inclusion criteria. In total we retained 168 sources. We conducted a narrative review and synthesis of the literature, extracting key themes and noting research gaps. CONCLUSIONS:We find that progress is urgently needed in five categories: identifying the critical lessons learned for effective implementation, evaluating different enforcement approaches, learning how to rejuvenate stalled smoke-free policies, learning how to increase ground-level will to enforce policies, and developing a conceptual framework that explains implementation. Investigation into these topics can improve implementation of smoke-free policies in LMICs.

SUBMITTER: Byron MJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6770618 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Implementing smoke-free policies in low- and middle-income countries: A brief review and research agenda.

Byron M Justin MJ Cohen Joanna E JE Frattaroli Shannon S Gittelsohn Joel J Drope Jeffrey M JM Jernigan David H DH

Tobacco induced diseases 20190805

<h4>Introduction</h4>Some low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) struggle to implement smoke-free policies. We sought to review the academic and gray literature, and propose a research agenda to improve implementation of smoke-free policies and make them more effective in LMICs.<h4>Methods</h4>We reviewed 10 databases for variations of ('implementation' /'enforcement' /'compliance') and ('smoke-free' /'ban' /'restriction') and ('tobacco' /'smoking'). We also reviewed cited sources and the gray ...[more]

PMID: 31582949

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Dataset Information

Implementing smoke-free policies in low- and middle-income countries: A brief review and research agenda.

Publications

Implementing smoke-free policies in low- and middle-income countries: A brief review and research agenda.

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