The Social and Political Context of the Tobacco Epidemic: Nursing Research and Scholarship on the Tobacco Industry

Abstract

Context matters in addressing tobacco as a global nursing issue. The tobacco epidemic and its resulting health consequences are in great measure the result of industrial decisions over the past century that included deliberately enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes, marketing them aggressively to vulnerable groups, hiding or manipulating knowledge about the products' harmfulness, and undermining public health efforts. The efforts of the tobacco industry to perpetuate the idea that smoking is solely a problem of individual behavior, or even a "right," still creates barriers to understanding the larger social and political context within which individuals use and attempt to quit tobacco. Nurses have been among the researchers worldwide who are studying tobacco industry activities and their role in policy and public health. This chapter reviews data sources, methods, and analytic approaches for conducting research using documents from the tobacco industry, and provides an overview of research conducted by nurses on this topic. Much of the nursing research to date on the tobacco industry focuses in four broad areas: (1) tobacco industry influence on policy; (2) tobacco industry strategic responses to public health efforts, including use of front groups and attempts to divide and conquer public health advocates; (3) tobacco industry targeting of marginalized groups; and (4) tobacco industry influence on science. Implications of this work for nursing practice, research, and policy intervention are discussed.