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S
| Sales Data | data generated by records of the wholesale or retail sale of tobacco products |
| SAMHSA | (U.S.) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration http://www.samhsa.gov/ |
| Schizophrenia | psychiatric disorder characterized by loss of contact with environment and disintegration of personality |
| Scrap | synonym for Chew |
| Secondary Prevention | use of screening tests or other suitable procedures to detect serious disease as early as possible so that its progress can be arrested, and, if possible, the disease eradicated (cf. Primary Prevention)Reference: Last JM (ed.). A Dictionary of Epidemiology, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. |
| Secondhand Smoke (SHS) | tobacco smoke inhaled by persons who are not actively engaged in smoking, which contains numerous harmful chemicals causing serious health problems, e.g., sudden infant death syndrome in infants, asthma and respiratory infections in children and lung cancer in adults, and for which there is no safe level of exposure (see also Mainstream Smoke, Sidestream Smoke; cf. Thirdhand Smoke)Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/index.htm; accessed Feb. 17, 2009. |
| Self-Efficacy | in the Health Belief Model, personal conviction that one can successfully execute a required behaviour to achieve better health, e.g., quit smoking |
| Self-Regulation | see Tobacco Industry Self-Regulation |
| Self-Report Data | data generated by the subjects of a study or participants in a program or survey when they answer items on a questionnaire, which are usually not corroborated by external objective criteria |
| Self-Service Display | the display of tobacco products at the point of sale in such a way as to allow the consumer to handle the product before purchase |
| SES | Socioeconomic Status |
| SFO | Smoke-Free Ontario http://www.mhp.gov.on.ca/english/health/smoke_free/default.asp |
| SFOA | Smoke-Free Ontario Act |
| SFOS | Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy |
| SHAF | (Canadian) Smoking and Health Action Foundation, policy-focused sister organization of the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association (NSRA) http://www.nsra-adnf.ca/cms |
| SHAPES | (Canadian) School Health Action Planning and Evaluation System http://www.shapes.uwaterloo.ca/ |
| Shelf-Glider | coloured strip that sits flat along the metal shelf rail of a power wall to highlight the presence of tobacco products |
| Shelf-Liner | eye-catching coloured material that sits behind the cigarette packages in a power wall |
| Shelf-Talker | synonym for Dangler |
| Shisha | water pipe used to smoke tobacco that is often fruit-flavoured |
| SHL | Smokers’ Helpline, synonym for Quitline |
| SHS | Secondhand Smoke |
| Sidestream Smoke | (1) in a free-smoking situation (when a person is actually smoking), all of the tobacco smoke issuing from any part of a smoked tobacco product except that which is drawn from the mouth end during puffing (cf. Mainstream Smoke; see also Secondhand Smoke); (2) in a closed situation (when a smoking machine is being used for analytical purposes), the tobacco smoke that does not issue from the mouth end of the smoked tobacco product but rather through the burning end, the paper, etc.Reference: Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada (PSC). Dictionary of Tobacco Terms. Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, Ottawa, 2009. Available at: http://www.smoke-free.ca/SL/glossary.htm; accessed Mar. 11, 2009. |
| SIDS | Sudden Infant Death Syndrome |
| Signage | signs in retail outlets that indicate the presence of tobacco products for sale, including health warnings and age restrictions, often required to meet legislated guidelines regarding verbal and visual content, positioning, colours, size, etc. |
| SKU | Stock-Keeping Unit, a level of detail found on the UPC bar code of a pack of cigarettes (see also Brand) |
| Slotting Allowance | synonym for Slotting Fee |
| Slotting Fee | promotional allowance also known as a display fee, placement fee or slotting allowance, paid to tobacco retailers by the tobacco industry, which may take various forms, e.g., cash, invoice and payables reductions, free equipment, prizesAvailable at: http://www.smokefreens.ca/displayban.pdf; accessed Feb. 17, 2009. |
| Smoke-Free | healthier environmental conditions created by prohibiting smoking in, around or near certain locations, e.g., airports, bars, workplacesReference: Nykiforuk CI, Eyles J, Campbell HS. Smoke-free spaces over time: a policy diffusion study of bylaw development in Alberta and Ontario, Canada. Health and Social Care in the Community 2008;16:64-74. |
| Smoke-Free Legislation | laws designed to protect people from secondhand smoke by making it illegal to smoke in, around or near certain defined locations, e.g., public places and workplaces |
| Smoke-Free Long-Term Care Homes Project | a program of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion (MHP) to help long-term care facilities in Ontario implement smoke-free policies consistent with the regulations of the Smoke-Free Ontario Acthttp://www.smokefreeltc.ca/ |
| Smoke-Free Ontario Act | Ontario tobacco control legislation effective May 31, 2006, which amended, renamed and replaced the 1994 Tobacco Control Act, with an effective date for a complete ban on the retail display of tobacco products in Ontario as of May 31, 2008Available at: http://www.mhp.gov.on.ca/english/health/smoke_free/legislation.asp; accessed Feb. 17, 2009. |
| Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy (SFOS) | multi-component policy, program and media campaign in Ontario espousing the three goal areas of prevention, protection and cessation to prevent the uptake of smoking behaviour among youth and young adults, reduce involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke and help smokers to quit (formerly the Ontario Tobacco Strategy (OTS))Available at: http://www.mhp.gov.on.ca/english/health/smoke_free/default.asp; accessed Feb. 17, 2009. |
| Smoke Shack/Shop | outlet that sells untaxed cigarettes on a Native reserve, currently at the Canadian price of approximately $6.00 for a baggie of 200 cigarettes (compared with the current Canadian retail price of $70.23 to $93.08 for a legal carton of 200 cigarettes) (see also Carton of Cigarettes)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. |
| Smoked Tobacco Product | tobacco product that needs to be burnt in order to be consumed, e.g., a cigarette, cigar, cigarillo (cf. Smokeless Tobacco) |
| Smokeless Tobacco | tobacco product that is used without being burnt, e.g., chewed or dissolved in the mouth, and therefore without the production of smoke, some types being betel nut quid, chew, plug, scrap, snuff, snus, spit tobacco, twistReference: Ebbert JO, Carr AB, Dale LC. Smokeless tobacco: an emerging addiction. The Medical Clinics of North America 2004;88(6):1593-1605. |
| Smoker | imprecise term for a person who smokes or has recently smoked tobacco products, and who may be further described as a current smoker, daily smoker, experimental smoker, hard-core smoker, heavy smoker, non-daily smoker, occasional smoker, etc. (see also Smoking Status) |
| Smoker’s Cough | non-technical term for the chronic cough experienced by smokers because smoking impairs the ability of the lungs to clean out harmful material |
| Smoking-Attributable Morbidity | illness in a given population, which is regarded on the basis of scientific evidence to have been caused by the use of tobacco productsReference: Baliunas D, Patra J, Rehm J, Popova S, Taylor B. Smoking-attributable morbidity: acute care hospital diagnoses and days of treatment in Canada, 2002. BMC Public Health 2007;7(1):247. |
| Smoking-Attributable Mortality | deaths in a given population, which is regarded on the basis of scientific evidence to have been caused by the use of tobacco productsReference: Illing EM, Kaiserman MJ. Mortality attributable to tobacco use in Canada and its regions, 1998. Canadian Journal of Public Health 2004;95(1):38-44. |
| Smoking Behaviour | refers to a broad array of smoking-related behavior, e.g., smoking initiation, amount smoked daily, quit attempt, relapse (see also Trajectory of Tobacco Use)Reference: Pearce J, Hiscock R, Moon G, Barnett R. The neighborhood effects of geographical access to tobacco retailers on individual smoking behavior. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2009;63(1):69-77. |
| Smoking Incidence | see Incidence |
| Smoking Initiation | first time smoking or the beginning or early stages of smoking behaviour, e.g., when a person takes a puff of a cigarette for the first time in his or her life |
| Smoking Intention | synonym for Intention to Smoke |
| Smoking Machine | a mechanical device allowing reproducible cigarette smoking under standard conditions in a manner designed to approximate human smoking behaviour (see also Mainstream Smoke and Sidestream Smoke) |
| Smoking Prevalence | see Prevalence |
| Smoking Status | a person’s status in relation to smoking behaviour, e.g., current smoker, daily smoker, ever smoker, experimental smoker, former smoker, lifetime abstainer, never smoker, non-daily smoker, nonsmoker, social smokerReference: Diemert LM, Bondy SJ, Victor JC, Cohen JE, Brown KS, Ferrence R, Garcia J, McDonald P, Selby P, Stephens T. Efficient screening of current smoking status in recruitment of smokers for population-based research. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 2008;10(11):1663-1667. |
| Smoking Trigger | see Trigger |
| Smoking Uptake | synonym for Smoking Initiation |
| Smuggling | illegal import or export of tobacco products across international, interstate or interprovincial borders (see also Contraband and Untaxed Cigarettes)Reference: Luk R, Cohen JE, Ferrence R. Contraband cigarettes in Ontario. Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, Special Report Series, Toronto, November 2007. Available at: http://www.otru.org/pdf/special/special_nov_2007.pdf; accessed Feb. 17, 2009. |
| Snowball Effect | a hypothetical construct suggesting that an increased rate of behaviour in a population (e.g., quitting smoking) creates a kind of momentum that encourages more and more of the same behaviour in the same population |
| Snuff | preparation of pulverized smokeless tobacco to be inhaled through the nostrils, chewed or placed against the gums, which is sometimes sold in small packets like teabags |
| Snus | moist powder smokeless tobacco product originally from Sweden, which is consumed by placing under the lip for an extended period |
| Social Capital | a composite measure consisting of social contacts and networks that tend towards the achievement of mutual benefits |
| Social Climate | predominant societal beliefs and attitudes reflected in public discourse, the mass media, social institutions and public policy, which in tobacco control may be targeted through health information as part of the goal of denormalizationAvailable at: http://www.socialclimate.org; accessed Feb. 17, 2009. |
| Social Marketing | marketing designed to promote a social concern or political idea with techniques similar to those used for the marketing of a product or service |
| Social Norms | group expectations about the attitudes and behaviour of other people with consequences such as disapproval, criticism and rejection of persons who do not conformReference: Stuber J, Galea S, Link BG. Smoking and the emergence of a stigmatized social status. Social Science & Medicine 2008;67(3):420-430. |
| Social Smoker | a non-daily current smoker who smokes mainly at social events, sometimes defined as having no more than four cigarettes per social occasion |
| Social Source | acquaintance, friend or relative from whom tobacco products are obtainedReference: Croghan E, Aveyard P, Griffin C, Cheng KK. The importance of social sources of cigarettes to school students. Tobacco Control 2003;12(1):67-73. |
| Sociodemographic | relating to social factors, e.g., educational attainment and marital status, and demographic factors, e.g., sex and age |
| Socioeconomic | relating to social factors, e.g., educational attainment and occupation, and economic factors, e.g., income |
| Softening of Smoker Population | a hypothetical (and contested) construct denoting the selective quitting of the most severely addicted smokers in a population such that the remaining smokers are even more likely to be successful if they attempt to quit smoking (cf. Hardening of Smoker Population)Reference: Chaiton M, Cohen JE, Frank J. Population health and the hardcore smoker: Geoffrey Rose revisited. Journal of Public Health Policy 2008;29(3):307-318. |
| Special Groups/Populations | synonym for Vulnerable Populations |
| Spit Tobacco | smokeless tobacco product in the form of chew, plug or snuff, which is consumed by placing in the mouth |
| Sponsorship | financial support of sporting, cultural and other events by the tobacco industry usually with the expectation of visibility of tobacco products, tobacco product accessories, or brand-related logos or colour schemes at the event |
| SRNT | (U.S.-based) Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco http://www.srnt.org |
| Stages of Change | in the Transtheoretical Model, description of a person’s motivation and readiness to quit smoking according to six phases, namely, precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and termination |
| Stakeholder | person or group with an interest or share in the success of tobacco control programs, policies and other initiatives |
| StatCan/StatsCan/STC | abbreviations for Statistics Canada |
| Statistics Canada | Canada’s national statistical agency legislated to serve the whole of Canada and each province and territory by providing objective statistical information on population, resources, economy, society and culture http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html |
| Statute | synonym for Act |
| Stick | synonym for Tobacco Stick |
| Stimulant | a drug that heightens the activity and sensitivity of the central nervous system (cf. Depressant) |
| STOP | Stop Smoking Treatment for Ontario Patients, a research study evaluating the effectiveness of providing nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to Ontario smokers by different distribution methodshttp://www.stopstudy.ca/ |
| Strategy | (1) deployment of political, economic and social forces for tobacco control on a broad scale, e.g., Comprehensive Tobacco Control Strategy, Contraband Tobacco Enforcement Strategy, Federal Tobacco Control Strategy, National Strategy to Reduce Tobacco Use in Canada, Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy; (2) general approach to prevention of smoking behaviour, e.g., High-Risk Strategy, Population Strategy |
| Study Designs and Types | see Case-Control, Cohort, Cost Study, Cross-Sectional Study, Descriptive Study, Double-Blind, Longitudinal Study, Prospective Study, Qualitative Analysis, Quantitative Analysis, Randomized Clinical Trial (RTC), Randomized Controlled Trial (RTC), Retrospective Study |
| Stupid.ca | an electronic youth forum sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion (MHP) to help young people learn about the health effects of smoking and the tobacco industry http://www.stupid.ca/ |
| Subjective Norm | in the Theory of Planned Behaviour, individual expectation as to whether key people approve of one’s behaviour with motivation to behave in a way that gains approval thereby avoiding negative consequences, e.g., criticism and rejection |
| Substance Abuse/Misuse | synonyms for Substance Use |
| Substance Use | generic term for non-medical, unsafe or illegal use of drugs, including alcohol and tobacco products |
| Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) | sudden death of an infant (under one year old) without an immediately obvious explanation, for which exposure to secondhand smoke is a risk factor |
| Supply | quantity of tobacco products offered for sale in a given environment at a particular time (cf. Demand) |
| Supply-Side Intervention | a solution to the tobacco epidemic based on changing the way tobacco products are manufactured and soldReference: Callard C, Thompson D, Collishaw N. Curing the Addiction to Profits: A Supply-Side Approach to Phasing Out Tobacco. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, Ottawa, 2005. |
| Surveillance | systematic and continuous collection, collation and analysis of health-related information that is communicated in a timely manner to those who need to know so that action can be taken towards effective public health program planning, delivery and management (cf. Monitoring)Reference: Last JM (ed.). A Dictionary of Epidemiology, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. |
| Survey | method of collecting information on a target population by interview or questionnaire, e.g., CAMH Monitor, Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), Canadian Health Measures Survey, Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS), GATS, GHPS, Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), GSPS, International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey (ITC-4), (U.S.) NSDUH, Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS), Ontario Tobacco Survey (OTS), Rapid Risk Factor Surveillance System (RRFSS), Youth Smoking Survey (YSS) |
| Susceptibility | a phase in a person’s life preceding experimentation with smoking, described as the absence of a firm decision not to smokeReference: Pierce JP, Choi WS, Gilpin EA, Farkas AJ, Merritt RK. Validation of susceptibility as a predictor of which adolescents take up smoking in the United States. Health Psychology 1996;15:355-361. |
| Sustainability | the ability to continue a tobacco control program or strategy for as long as necessary until its goals have been achieved |
| Sustained Abstinence | quit attempt that is successful for a substantial period of time which may be defined in various ways, e.g., at least 6 monthsReference: Wetter DW, Cofta-Gunn L, Fouladi RT, Cinciripini PM, Sui D, Gritz DR. Late relapse/sustained abstinence among former smokers: a longitudinal study. Preventive Medicine 2004;39(6):1156-1163. |
| Systems | interrelated elements and environments (sometimes expressed as inputs, throughputs and outputs) that affect population-level tobacco use, e.g., the tobacco industry, populations who smoke or stop smoking, persons harmed by secondhand smoke, public policy, family and social norms, the retail environment, culture and history |
| Systems Thinking | use of theories, research methods, techniques, procedures and other approaches for understanding the systems that affect population-level tobacco use |
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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