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R
| Random Digit Dialing (RDD) | a telephone survey sampling method that attempts to ensure a representative sample by contacting potential participants using randomly selected telephone numbers |
| Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT) | a type of randomized controlled trial focused on testing the effect of medications or clinical procedures |
| Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) | a study design in which participants are randomly assigned to receive or not receive an experimental, diagnostic, therapeutic or preventive procedure and then are followed to determine the effect of the interventionReference: Norman CD, Maley O, Li X, Skinner HA. Using the internet to assist smoking prevention and cessation in schools: a randomized controlled trial. Health Psychology 2008;27(6):799-810. |
| Rapid Risk Factor Surveillance System (RRFSS) | since 1999, ongoing telephone survey occurring in various health units across Ontario that gathers surveillance data and monitors public opinion on key public health issues http://www.rrfss.ca |
| Rapid Smoking | a type of aversive smoking therapy that requires the smoker to take a puff every few seconds so that smoking becomes unpleasantReference: Juliano LM, Hutsmuller EJ, Stitzer ML. A preliminary investigation of rapid smoking as a lapse-responsive treatment for tobacco dependence. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2006:14(4):429-438. |
| Rate | a type of ratio that measures of how frequently an event occurs in a population during a specified period of time, e.g., annual cessation rateReference: Last JM. A Dictionary of Public Health. Oxford University Press, New York, 2007. |
| Ratio | (1) broadly, the value obtained by dividing one quantity by another, including a rate, a proportion or a percentage, all of which are types of ratios; (2) specifically, the relative magnitude of two separate and distinct quantities, e.g., if a town had 100 tobacco retail outlets and 1000 adult current smokers then the ratio of tobacco retail outlets to adult current smokers in that town would be 1:10Reference: Last JM. A Dictionary of Public Health. Oxford University Press, New York, 2007. |
| Raw Leaf Tobacco | leaves and stems of the tobacco plant which have not undergone manufacturing |
| RBH | Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Incorporated, one of three major tobacco companies in Canada, the other two being Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited and JTI-McDonald CorporationAvailable at: http://www.ocat.org/opposition/industry.html; accessed Feb. 17, 2009. |
| RCMP | Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the national police force responsible for enforcing aspects of federal and provincial law relevant to tobacco control http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Reference: Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Contraband Tobacco Enforcement Strategy. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, Ottawa, 2008. Catalogue No. PS61-11/2007; ISBN 978-0-662-05403-0. Available at: http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ce-da/tobacco-tabac-strat-2008-eng.htm; accessed Feb. 26, 2009. |
| RCT | Randomized Clinical Trial or Randomized Controlled Trial |
| RDD | Random Digit Dialing |
| RE-AIM | a method of estimating and evaluating the impact of health interventions based on the five criteria of Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and MaintenanceReference: France EK, Glasgow RE, Marcus AC. Smoking cessation interventions among hospitalized patients: what have we learned? Preventive Medicine 2001;32(4):376-388. |
| Reach | in RE-AIM, the extent to which a project successfully engages its target group, expressed as a percentage of the total target group |
| Real Price | cost of tobacco products adjusted for inflation and sometimes also taking into account disposable income (cf. Absolute Price) |
| Recent Quitter | a former smoker who has successfully sustained a quit attempt for a relatively short prescribed period of time, e.g., a number of days or weeks, depending on the assessment |
| Reduce to Quit | an approach to smoking cessation whereby the smoker gradually reduces the number of cigarettes smoked with the intention of eventually quitting smoking altogether |
| Regulation | a law made by a person or body whose authority to do so is set out in an Act, which provides details that give effect to the policy established by the Act, e.g., in Canada the Tobacco Products Information Regulations adopted in June 2000 provide details giving effect to the policy established by the 1997 federal Tobacco Act |
| Regulatory Control | discouragement of tobacco use by means of legislation |
| Relapse | return to regular smoking after a quit attempt (see also Late Relapse and Postpartum Relapse) |
| Relative Risk | the ratio of the risk of disease or death among the exposed to the risk among the unexposed, e.g., the ratio of the risk of lung cancer among those exposed to tobacco smoke to the risk among those not exposed to tobacco smoke (cf. Absolute Risk)Reference: Last JM (ed.). A Dictionary of Epidemiology, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. |
| Release Criteria | standards to be met before it is prudent to publish statistical information, e.g., relating to response rate, coefficient of variation and confidence interval |
| Reliability | the degree to which measures used or observations made in a study can be replicated when repeated under the same conditions |
| Replacement Smokers | new smokers the tobacco industry needs for the sake of sustaining profits to replace smokers who have successfully quit smoking or who have died prematurely from tobacco-related disease |
| Representative Sample | in survey research, a sample that has approximately the same distribution of characteristics as the population from which it was drawn (cf. Purposive Sampling) |
| Research Utilization | the process by which research-based scientific knowledge is put into practice |
| Reserve | any of about 600 tracts of land in Canada set aside for the use of Aboriginal peoples, which are exempt from all forms of taxation except local taxation, e.g., the Mohawk reserve in Akwasasne straddling Ontario, Quebec and New York State |
| Respiratory Disease | general category of illnesses that affect lung function and are often caused and worsened by tobacco smoke, e.g., asthma, bronchitis, emphysema |
| Response Rate | in survey research, the percentage of the sample that responds to the survey, e.g., if 100 questionnaires are mailed out and 80 respondents return a completed questionnaire, then the response rate for that study is 80% (see also Release Criteria) |
| Restriction | any limitation on activity by statute, regulation or contract provision |
| Retail | the sale of a product, e.g., tobacco, directly to the ultimate user (cf. Wholesale) |
| Retail Display | manifestation of tobacco products and tobacco product accessories at the retail point of sale, e.g., convenience store, grocery store, gas stationReference: Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. The Tobacco Control Environment: Ontario and Beyond. [Special Reports: Monitoring and Evaluation Series, 2007-2008 (Vol. 14, No. 1)]. Retail Display of Tobacco Products. Monitoring Update. Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, Toronto, 2008. Available at: http://www.otru.org/pdf/14mr/14mr_no1_2.pdf; accessed Feb. 11, 2009. |
| Retail Environment | places where tobacco products are legally sold directly to the ultimate user, e.g., convenience store, gas station, supermarket Reference: Health Canada. 2005 National Baseline Survey on the Tobacco Retail Environment. Final Report POR-04-48. Corporate Research Associates Inc. Prepared for Health Canada, March 2005. Executive summary available at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/tobac-tabac/research-recherche/por-rop/other-autre_retail-vente-eng.php; accessed Oct. 5, 2009. |
| Retail License | a tobacco control measure consisting of formal permission from the competent authority to sell tobacco products directly to the consumer, currently required for tobacco retail outlets by some Canadian provinces, e.g., Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and some Ontario municipalities, e.g., Ottawa |
| Retail License Fee | a tobacco control measure consisting of money to be paid to the competent authority for permission to sell tobacco products directly to the consumer, currently charged by some Canadian provinces, e.g., Quebec and Nova Scotia, and some Ontario municipalities, e.g., Ottawa |
| Retail Outlet | store that sells tobacco products directly to the consumer |
| Retailer Compliance | cooperation with the provisions of tobacco legislation, especially youth access laws, on the part of a tobacco retailerReference: Dubray JM, Schwartz RM, Garcia JM, Bondy SJ. Vendor compliance with Ontario’s tobacco point of sale legislation. Canadian Journal of Public Health 2009;100(2):109-112. |
| Retrospective Study | a research design that looks back in time at events that have already taken place, a prime example being a case-control study (cf. Prospective Study) |
| Risk Factor | condition, circumstance or disposition known to increase the probability of a health problem, or, by extension, behaviour that leads to a health problem, e.g., smoking tobacco products as a risk factor for lung cancer and coronary heart disease (see also Absolute Risk, At Risk, Attributable Risk, Cancer Risk, Framingham Study, Health Risk, High-Risk, Lifetime Risk, Low-Risk, Population-Attributable Risk (PAR), Relative Risk)Reference: Last JM. A Dictionary of Public Health. Oxford University Press, New York, 2007. |
| Risk Ratio | synonym for Relative Risk |
| RITC | Research for International Tobacco Control http://www.idrc.ca/ritc |
| RN | Registered Nurse |
| RNAO | Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario http://www.rnao.org |
| Roll-Your-Own (RYO) | hand-rolled cigarette the consumer prepares for smoking by wrapping loose tobacco in specially purchased paper and moistening the longitudinal side to seal it during smokingReference: Young D, Borland R, Hammond D, Cummings KM, Devlin E, Young HH, O’Connor RJ. Prevalence and attributes of roll-your-own smokers in the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey. Tobacco Control 2006;15(Supplement 3):iii76-iii82. |
| Roll-Your-Own Loophole | lower taxation of loose tobacco used for roll-your-own cigarettes as compared with the taxation of a similar quantity of manufactured cigarettesReference: Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. The Tobacco Control Environment: Ontario and Beyond. [Special Reports: Monitoring and Evaluation Series, 2007-2008 (Vol. 14, No. 1)]. Tobacco Taxes. Monitoring Update. Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, Toronto, 2008. Available at: http://www.otru.org/pdf/14mr/14mr_no1_3.pdf; accessed Feb. 11, 2009. |
| Rollback | synonym for Tax Rollback |
| Royal Assent | final stage in the legislative process by which a bill becomes law, achieved in Ontario by the signature of the Lieutenant Governor on behalf of the Queen once a bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly after Third Reading |
| RR | Response Rate |
| RRFSS | Rapid Risk Factor Surveillance System |
| RYO | Roll-Your-Own |
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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