The MyFamily MySmoke project is a collaboration between researchers at the Institute for Social Marketing and Health (University of Stirling) and three Malaysian partners: Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM).
Male smoking is high in Malaysia with nearly 50% of men (but less than 2%of women) smoking. Evidence from work published by the UK and Malaysian applicants indicates that 53% of children aged 10-11 are exposed to SHS at home. Children exposed to SHS at home are more likely to experience a range of acute and chronic health conditions and impaired lung development. Taken together these health conditions can impact on educational attainment and lifetime economic and social welfare at both an individual and societal level.
Major progress on encouraging parents to make their homes smoke-free has occurred in the UK in the previous decade with world-leading methods and interventions. The ‘Right Outside’ health education campaign in Scotland has successfully utilised information about the impact of smoking on household air quality to shift societal norms around the acceptability of smoking in the home, particularly around children.
In this project, we are carrying out work to better understand and involve men in creating smoke-free homes, use air quality feedback as a tool to generate case studies for a media and social media awareness raising campaign, and create a Malaysian Smoke-Free Homes Network to help deliver this.
Research team
Scotland
Dr Sean Semple (Scotland PI) – Associate Professor, University of Stirling
Dr Isabelle Uny – Research Fellow, University of Stirling
Dr Rachel O’Donnell – Research Fellow, University of Stirling
Dr Ruaraidh Dobson – Research Assistant, University of Stirling
Malaysia
Dr Emilia Abidin (Malaysia PI) – Associate Professor, Universiti Putra Malaysia
Dr Azmina Ibrahim – Lecturer, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
Dr Norul Latif – Assistant Professor, International Islamic University Malaysia
NGO partners
Malaysian Women’s Action for Tobacco Control and Health (MyWATCH)
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA)
Malaysian Green Lung Association
Funding
This work is supported by a Newton Fund Impact Scheme grant, ID 534474856, under the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund partnership. The grant is funded by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and MIGHT and delivered by the British Council. For further information, please visit www.newtonfund.ac.uk.
