New Spin-Out: DECIPHer IMPACT
A new spin-out company has been formed following a joint initiative between Cardiff University and the University of Bristol, aiming to drastically cut the rates of teenage smoking across the UK. DECIPHer IMPACT Ltd has been established to roll out the programme across Wales and the South West of England after receiving funding from the Welsh Assembly Government and Primary Care Trusts in England.
Professor Laurence Moore is Director of the Cardiff Institute for Society, Health and Ethics (CISHE) within the School of Social Science. He co-founded DECIPHer IMPACT on the back of joint research with Professor Rona Campbell (University of Bristol). The ASSIST (A Stop Smoking in Schools Trial) study targeted 12 and 13 year old pupils across 59 schools in Wales and England. Influential students within peer groups were trained to support classmates and discourage others from taking up smoking. The promising results were published in the acclaimed medical journal The Lancet in May 2008, and suggested that ASSIST intervention could lead to a reduction in adolescent smoking prevalence of public-health importance if implemented more widely.
Following the launch of DECIPHer IMPACT, Professor Moore said:
“Cutting rates of teenage smoking is a public health priority.” “However our research has shown that teenagers respond far better to anti-smoking messages from their peers than they do from the Government, the NHS, their teachers or even their parents.”
“Along with colleagues at Bristol University we are developing a new social enterprise that will make this programme available across the UK. Not only is it based upon years of research at Cardiff and Bristol, we are also helping make our discoveries a reality.”
Further Information:
ASSIST Study (published in The Lancet)
Professor Laurence Moore (profile)