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D
| D.A.R.E. | Drug Abuse Resistance Education |
| Daily Smoker | a current smoker who smokes every day or who has smoked every day for the past 30 days (cf. Non-Daily Smoker)Reference: Mills C, Stephens T, Wilkins K. Summary report of the workshop on data for monitoring tobacco use. Chronic Diseases in Canada 1994;15(3):105-110. |
| DALY | Disability-Adjusted Life Years |
| Dangler | promotional sign that hangs from the lip of a shelf in a power wall (or other display) designed to sway when people walk by |
| Dark Market | a tobacco industry term for conditions that restrict advertising and promotion of tobacco products, e.g., when the retail display of tobacco products is banned (not to be confused with Black Market) |
| Data | plural of Latin “datum” meaning “given,” data are documented facts or units of information used to study, understand and solve the problems caused by tobacco use |
| Death Rate | synonym for Mortality Rate |
| Deceptive Practices | see Disinformation |
| Dedicated Smoker | a current daily smoker who does not intend to quit |
| Dedicated Tax | a tax on tobacco products earmarked for public health purposes, e.g., cessation programs |
| Deglamorization | sometimes contentious non-technical term for a facet of denormalization consisting of the deliberate attempt to remove any association of “glamour” (e.g., beauty, social success, carefree lifestyle) from the imagery associated with tobacco products and smoking behaviour |
| Demand | willingness, desire and ability of the public to buy tobacco products (cf. Supply) |
| Demand Elasticity | synonym for Price Elasticity |
| Demand-Side Intervention | an approach to the tobacco epidemic that relies on changing the behaviour of smokers (cf. Supply-Side Intervention) |
| Demographic | relating to vital statistics, e.g., age and sex |
| Demographic Availability | infrequently used term for access to tobacco products according to age, e.g., it may be illegal to sell or supply tobacco products to persons under a certain age |
| Denominator | the lower portion of a fraction used to calculate a rate or a ratio (cf. Numerator) |
| Denormalization | (1) variously used to refer to attempts to influence public opinion against either smoking or the tobacco industry, the latter usage being preferred by most persons working in tobacco control and for clarity sometimes called Tobacco Industry Denormalization (TID); (2) since 1999, one of four goals of Canada’s National Strategy to Reduce Tobacco UseAvailable at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/pubs/tobac-tabac/prtc-relct-2003/index-eng.php; accessed Oct. 5, 2009. |
| Density | numbers of things (e.g., tobacco retail outlets) in relation to available space or size of local population (see also Outlet Density) |
| Dependence | synonym for Addiction |
| Depressant | a drug that lowers the activity and sensitivity of the central nervous system (cf. Stimulant) |
| Descriptive Study | a study that identifies the quality and distribution of variables without further analysis |
| Designated Smoking Area (DSA) | space where smoking is allowed, sometimes differentiated from designated smoking room as being unenclosed (cf. Designated Smoking Room) |
| Designated Smoking Room (DSR) | enclosed space with separate ventilation where smoking is allowed (cf. Designated Smoking Area) |
| Determinant | any event, character or behavior that brings about a change in a health condition or other defined characteristic, e.g., smoking behaviour as a determinant of shorter life expectancyReference: Last JM (ed.). A Dictionary of Epidemiology, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. |
| Diffusion Network | in Diffusion of Innovation, the means whereby the adoption of an innovation occurs, which often includes communication among key players and opinion makers |
| Diffusion of Innovation | the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among members of a social system, the three time factors being the innovation-decision process, the relative time with which an individual or group adopts the innovation and the innovation’s rate of adoptionReference: Rogers EM. Diffusion of Innovations, Fifth Edition. Free Press, New York, 2003. |
| Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) | a measure of the burden of disease in a defined population and the effectiveness of interventionsReference: Last JM (ed.). A Dictionary of Epidemiology, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. |
| Discount Brands | synonym for Discount Cigarettes |
| Discount Cigarettes | cigarettes sold at a reduced price |
| Discretionary Income | (1) the income remaining to a person or family after payment of income tax and subtracting what is allocated for the necessities of life, to be spent on non-necessities or saved (cf. Disposable Income); (2) used loosely as a synonym for disposable income |
| Disinformation | incorrect or misleading information propagated by the tobacco industry and its front groups in order to promote tobacco products and discourage effective tobacco control, e.g., raising doubts about the science showing the harmful effects of secondhand smokeReference: Tong EK, Glantz SA. Tobacco industry efforts undermining evidence linking secondhand smoke with cardiovascular disease. Circulation 2007;116(16):1845-1854. |
| Display | see Retail Display |
| Display Ban | prohibition of visible tobacco products and brand-name tobacco product accessories at retail and wholesale point-of-sale, e.g., as stipulated in the Smoke-Free Ontario Act (see also Retail Display Ban) |
| Display Fee | synonym for Slotting Fee |
| Disposable Income | (1) the income remaining to a person or family after income tax has been paid, to be spent on necessities or non-necessities or to be saved (cf. Discretionary Income); (2) in practice, often used interchangeably with discretionary income |
| Dissemination | the deliberate communication of knowledge or research results to a target audience, e.g., by means of scientific journals and conference presentations |
| Distribution of Consumption | an idea from the alcohol field that the number of heavy drinkers in a population can be predicted by the average alcohol consumption of the population at large and that therefore changes in average consumption will result in changes in the prevalence of alcoholism and alcohol-related health and social problemsReference: Edwards G, Anderson P, Babor T et al. Alcohol Policy and the Public Good. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994. |
| Divestment | the act of ceasing to invest in the tobacco industry |
| DM | Deputy Minister, the senior level of the civil service, the official who reports to the Minister |
| Document Disclosure | revelation of the contents of internal tobacco industry documentsReference: Lavack AM, Toth G. Tobacco point-of-purchase promotion: examining tobacco industry documents. Tobacco Control 2006;15(5):377-384. |
| Domino Effect | process whereby one jurisdiction tends to imitate tobacco control legislation that has been successful in another similar jurisdiction, e.g., when several Canadian provinces, including Ontario, followed suit after Nova Scotia became the first province to ban smoking in cars with children in April 2008 |
| Dopamine | neurotransmitter in the brain associated with sensation of pleasure, which is released by nicotine and other addictive drugs |
| Dose-Response Relationship | positive association between increased exposure (e.g., to tobacco smoke) and increased effect (e.g., coughing) |
| Double-Blind | study design in which a participant is randomly assigned to one of two groups (control or experimental) and neither the participant nor the researcher knows which group the participant was assigned to until the end of the study |
| Drag/Draw | synonyms for Puff |
| Drifting Smoke | contentious synonym for Infiltrating Smoke, a form of Secondhand Smoke |
| Driven to Quit (DTQ) | a Canadian program that offers a car as a prize for contestants who successfully quit smoking for one month (see also Quit Smoking Contest) http://www.driventoquit.ca/english/home |
| Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) | prevention program for school children designed to be taught by specially trained police officers, which originated in the United States in 1983 and has since been implemented in many jurisdictions, including Ontario, to deter experimentation with tobacco products, alcohol and other drugs (see also OPP) http://www.hrps.on.ca/CommunityPolicing/Youth/DARE/Pages/default.aspx |
| DSA | Designated Smoking Area |
| DSM | Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental DisordersAvailable at: http://allpsych.com/disorders/dsm.html; accessed Feb. 8, 2009. |
| DSR | Designated Smoking Room |
| DTQ | Driven to Quit |
| Dual Diagnosis | synonym for Concurrent Disorder |
| Duty | a tax levied on goods imported into Canada from a foreign country or exported from Canada into a foreign country |
| Duty-Free Cigarettes | cigarettes that are exempt from import taxes when brought into Canada from a foreign country, an exemption that applies to 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars if the traveler is outside Canada for at least 48 hours and which at the time of writing includes travelers who are minors |
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The OTRU Glossary of Tobacco Control provides brief definitions of over 1,000 tobacco control terms, abbreviations and acronyms. Definitions are based on many sources including dictionaries, legislative texts, websites, reports, books, peer-reviewed journal articles and communications from tobacco control experts. A single definition often reflects material from more than one source.
While we have tried to be comprehensive in producing this resource, the language of tobacco control is constantly evolving and there may be relevant terms that are not listed or terms whose meanings may have changed.
Comments about the glossary or particular definitions are welcome and can be sent to lise_anglin@camh.net. For technical assistance, please contact sonja_johnston@camh.net