Association of Racism and Smoking Rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Adults Aged 20-25 Years in Sydney

This presentation discusses the impact of racism on smoking rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged 20-25 years in Sydney. The presentation includes background information on racism and its impact on health behavior, research questions, interview guide, survey pilot, strengths, limitations, and conclusion. The study aims to identify the relationship between racism and smoking rates and understand the experiences of racism among the selected population.

Association of racism and smoking rates of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults
aged 20-25 years in Sydney
PRESENTED BY

Background
 Racism is defined as the belief of people based on superiority of one race
over another (Bonilla-Silva 2017).
 The consequence of racism may lead to prejudice towards the people
depending on their race ethnicity or race which in turn results in social
discrimination.
 Beside such disadvantages racism has been found to impact on health
behavior of the people such as smoking as well (Kirkinis et al. 2018).
 Study had indicated inequality in the rates of smoking initiation in the
economically and socially disadvantaged population.

Background
 Adolescence is identified as the most vulnerable period which is
associated with initiation of various health behavior including smoking
and endure the adverse effect during adulthood (Lê Cook et al. 2014).
 Different factors have been identified that influence the smoking in
adults for example, social and structural level, influence of peers,
parents and siblings, mental stress, lack of education and cultural
influence as well (Öncel et al. 2014).
 Such factors have indicated socio-cultural influence on initiation of
smoking.

Background
 Racism has been detected as the social construct that initiated
through manifestation of oppression and discrimination on the basis
of race, culture, ethnicity and religion and influence smoking as it
acts as one of the social determinants of health which is associated
with development of various health behaviors including smoking
(Read et al. 2018).
 Previous study has indicated the stress originated through
discrimination due to racism may lead to initiation of smoking.

Background
 On the other hand increasing attacks against the religious and ethnic
groups, inequality, migration, and changes in policy also impact on the
physical and mental health of people and lead to initiation of smoking
to reduce their stress (Read et al. 2015).
 However, it is also reported that low smoking rate has been found in
some minority group while having social deprivation and disadvantages
(Soneji et al. 2017). Hence it is required to introduce research to
identify whether social construct such as racism influence smoking or
not.

Research question
 How does racism impact smoking rates among Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander adults aged 20-25 years in Sydney?

Research aim
 To explore how racism impacts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
adults aged 20-25 years who smoke compared to Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander adults’ non-smokers in Sydney.

Research objectives
 To identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged 20-25
years who smoke in Sydney.
To understand the experiences of racism among Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander adults aged 20-25 years.
 To explore racial discrimination and smoking among Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander adults aged 20-25 years.
 To address whether there is any relationship between racism and
smoking rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults
aged 20-25 years in Sydney?

Interview guide
Background:
 This interview guide was developed in order to assist the exploration of
the experience of adults aged 20-25 years regarding the impact of
racism on the initiation of smoking. The interview will be conducted
among my classmates. The responses will be used as a part of this
research project and derive the result.

Interview guide
 Hi! Myself Navjot Sharma, I am a postgraduate student in University
of Wollongong enrolled in Master of Public Health Advanced
Course.
 Today, I would like to ask you some general questions regarding
smoking and talk about any of your experiences which you think was
a discrimination due to race and the other factors which have
influenced you to smoke.

Interview guide
Part A
Demographic Variables
1st interviewee:
 Name- Usha
 Age-24
 Gender-female
 Ethnicity- Nepalese
 Occupation- student
 Socioeconomic status-medium

Interview guide
Part B
Interview questions:
 What is racism to you?
 Did you face racism anywhere due to your race or ethnicity?
 If yes, which places do you think you have faced racism more commonly?
 Why did you face racism in that situation?
 Do you smoke? If yes how often you smoke?

Interview guide
Part B
Interview questions:
 What factors do you think influence you to smoke?
 Do you this the social disadvantages due to racism force you to smoke?
 What circumstances racism creates that influence you to initiate smoking?
 Do you think discrimination due to racism creates mental stress?
 Do you think such mental stress leads to initiation of smoking?

Interview guide
Do you have any question for me?
Thank you for participating in this research.
Feedback:
I did not find any association between racism and smoking and there is
no relation between racism and smoking in your question.

Interview guide
Part A
Demographic Variables
2nd interviewee:
 Name- Anupa
 Age-22
 Gender-female
 Ethnicity- Nepalese
 Occupation- student
 Socioeconomic status- low

Interview guide
Part B
Interview questions:
 What is racism to you?
 Did you face racism anywhere due to your race or ethnicity?
 If yes, which places do you think you have faced racism more
commonly?
 Why did you face racism in that situation?
 Do you smoke? If yes how often you smoke?

Interview guide
Part B
Interview questions:
 What factors do you think influence you to smoke?
 Do you this the social disadvantages due to racism force you to smoke?
 What circumstances racism creates that influence you to initiate
smoking?
 Do you think discrimination due to racism creates mental stress?
 Do you think such mental stress leads to initiation of smoking?

Interview guide
Do you have any question for me?
Thank you for participating in this research.
Feedback:
These questions are only relevant to those who smoke. As I have never
smoked, I did not find any relevancy of the questions for the non-smokers.

Interview guide
Part A
Demographic Variables
3rd interviewee:
 Name- Ditya
 Age-25
 Gender-female
 Ethnicity- Nepalese
 Occupation- student
 Socioeconomic status-medium

Interview guide
Part B
Interview questions:
 What is racism to you?
 Did you face racism anywhere due to your race or ethnicity?
 If yes, which places do you think you have faced racism more commonly?
 Why did you face racism in that situation?
 Do you smoke? If yes how often you smoke?

Interview guide
Part B
Interview questions:
 What factors do you think influence you to smoke?
 Do you this the social disadvantages due to racism force you to smoke?
 What circumstances racism creates that influence you to initiate
smoking?
 Do you think discrimination due to racism creates mental stress?
 Do you think such mental stress leads to initiation of smoking?

Interview guide
Do you have any question for me?
Thank you for participating in this research.
Feedback:
I am a smoker and I can relates the consequence of racism and smoking.
Hence, I have found relevancy of the questions with the topic.

Interview guide
 The interview has been conducted with the student that belongs to
minority which could reflect the selected population of this pilot
study.
 Such questions would help to identify the smokers and different
factors that have influenced them to initiate smoking.
 On the other hand the questionnaire also represent the experience of
the participants regarding discrimination due to their race or ethnicity,
the stress developed due to social discrimination and impact of such
aspects on the rate of smoking in such population.

Survey pilot
 Interview questionnaire has been used as a tool in order to identify the
response of participants regarding the impact of racism on smoking.

Method
 The pilot study has been done by recruiting 3 students in the study.
 The students have been asked several questions regarding their health
behavior, their perceptions regarding racism and their views regarding the
impact of racism on smoking.
 A time period of 20 minutes has been provided for each individual.
 After the interview feedback has been taken from the participants in order to
identify the strength and limitation of the survey.
 The participants have been informed about the study and its importance.
 No participants have been forced to participate in the interview.
 Participants have been allowed to participate in the interview with their
consent.

Strength
 All of the interviewee have completed the pilot test with interview
questionnaire.
 The length of the interview was adequate for understanding the response
of the participants.
 All the questions were developed based on the objectives of the study.
 The questions were reliable to understand the rate of smoking in the
selected population and impact of racism on their initiation of smoking.
 Both the smokers and non-smokers were participated in the interview
which has helped to compare the impact of racism on the adult smokers
aged 20 to 25 years as compared to the non-smokers.
 Informed consent is maintained.

Limitation
 Only female participants have been recruited in the study, which has
indicated gender bias in the study.
 Two interviewee have given negative feedback.
 One participant has said that the questions were based on smoking and
she is a non-smoker, thus she does not find relevancy.
 Another participant has mentioned that there is no connection between
racism and smoking in the interview questionnaire.

Conclusion
 Racism may associated with social discrimination and social disadvantages
based on the race, culture, ethnicity and religious.
 More information needs to be gathered about the impact of racism on
smoking.
 In order to understand the impact of racism on smoking for the selected
population it is required to recruit participants from the selected
population.

Conclusion
 Result need to be interpreted in an effective manner.
 Feedback need to be considered and relevant changes need to be
done in order to make the study more effective.
 Findings of the study need to be communicated with the sample
population.

References
 Bonilla-Silva, E., 2017. Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the
persistence of racial inequality in America. Rowman & Littlefield. 3rd
edition. pp. 23-364.
 Kirkinis, K., Pieterse, A.L., Martin, C., Agiliga, A. and Brownell, A., 2018.
Racism, racial discrimination, and trauma: a systematic review of the
social science literature. Ethnicity & health, pp.1-21.
 Lê Cook, B., Wayne, G.F., Kafali, E.N., Liu, Z., Shu, C. and Flores, M.,
2014. Trends in smoking among adults with mental illness and association
between mental health treatment and smoking cessation. Jama, 311(2),
pp.172-182.

References
 Öncel, S.Y., Dick, D.M., Maes, H.H. and Alıev, F., 2014. Risk factors
influencing smoking behavior: a Turkish twin study. Twin Research and
Human Genetics, 17(6), pp.563-573.
 Read, U.M., Karamanos, A., Cassidy, A., Joao da Silva, M., Molaodi,
O.R., Cruickshank, J.K. and Harding, S., 2015. Racism triggers smoking
in British ethnic minority adolescents: evidence from the determinants of
young adult social wellbeing and health (DASH) longitudinal study.
In West Indian Medical Journal Supplement (pp. 1-75). The University of
the West Indies. Faculty of Medical Sciences.

References
 Read, U.M., Karamanos, A., Silva, M.J., Molaodi, O.R., Enayat, Z.E.,
Cassidy, A., Cruickshank, J.K. and Harding, S., 2018. The influence of
racism on cigarette smoking: Longitudinal study of young people in a
British multiethnic cohort. PloS one, 13(1), p.e0190496.
 Soneji, S., Barrington-Trimis, J.L., Wills, T.A., Leventhal, A.M., Unger,
J.B., Gibson, L.A., Yang, J., Primack, B.A., Andrews, J.A., Miech, R.A.
and Spindle, T.R., 2017. Association between initial use of e-cigarettes
and subsequent cigarette smoking among adolescents and young adults:
a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA pediatrics, 171(8),
pp.788-797.