Paper short abstract:

This study aims to evaluate the first tobacco control office in the UK. This fully collaborative research has raised some unique challenges, including the ability of participants to rewrite manuscripts and the possibility that the researcher could truly ‘go native’.

Paper long abstract:

<b>Co-author: Dr. Andrew Russell, Durham University</b>

</br>

In April 2006, a team based at Durham University began a detailed ethnographic study of the first regional tobacco control office of its kind in the U.K. This office was established with the goal of reducing smoking prevalence in the North East of England, focusing on the de-normalization of tobacco with emphasis on second hand smoking and regional infrastructure. The aims of the study, which is funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative (the largest consortium of research council and charitable bodies ever assembled in the U.K. to fund a research programme), are to evaluate the effectiveness of the TCO in the U.K. setting, and record and analyse good practice that could be adopted in other regions. The lead researchers have experience in collaborative research in other parts of the world and brought this experience to bear in this project. The ideal of collaboration is fully realizable in this setting, where the participants are both eager and qualified to contribute meaningfully to the project. However, the fulfilment of such an ideal poses its own problems. For example, the educational level of participants means they can fully engage with the theoretical framework to the extent that they could, if allowed, rewrite manuscripts. Other issues are more subtle, such as how to establish appropriate boundaries between the researcher and the TCO staff and their perspectives. This paper will highlight these and other emerging issues related to collaborating with health policy-makers in this setting and some of the ways in which the research team is working to resolve them.