Data from: Accuracy of popular media reporting on tobacco cessation therapy in substance abuse and mental health populations

Background: Tobacco cessation therapy is not consistently provided for alcohol, drug abuse and mental health (ADM) populations, despite the enormous health consequences of tobacco addiction in these groups and research supporting the effectiveness of treatment. Policymakers, however, tend to rely on popular media reports rather than the scientific literature in regulating treatment. Our goal was to determine whether popular reporting accurately reflects findings from the scientific literature on tobacco cessation treatment for ADM populations in treatment. Methods: We compared the results of systematic reviews on tobacco cessation therapy published before 2004 with articles published in traditional media and on the internet over the following 8 years. We searched LexisNexis and Google and assessed them using the Index of Scientific Quality (ISQ). Results: We found that popular reporting on this topic was consistent with findings reported in contemporaneous scientific literature. Our results suggest that the failure to consistently provide tobacco cessation therapy to ADM populations in treatment is not due to poor research translation. Conclusions: Our findings also suggest that in this topic area, scientific research findings have diffused relatively quickly. Further study of journalism in this area may suggest new strategies for effective translation of scientific findings into popular reporting on tobacco control.

背景：尽管烟草成瘾对酒精、药物滥用与心理健康（Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health, ADM）人群可造成极其严重的健康损害，且已有研究证实相关治疗的有效性，但此类人群在接受治疗时，烟草戒断治疗（tobacco cessation therapy）的供给并未得到持续保障。然而，政策制定者在制定治疗相关监管政策时，往往更倾向于依赖大众媒体报道，而非科学文献。本研究旨在验证大众报道能否准确反映针对ADM人群的烟草戒断治疗相关科学文献的研究结论。
方法：本研究将2004年之前发表的烟草戒断治疗系统综述结果，与后续8年间传统媒体及互联网平台刊发的相关文章进行比对。我们通过律商联讯（LexisNexis）与谷歌（Google）开展检索，并采用科学质量指数（Index of Scientific Quality, ISQ）对检索结果进行评估。
结果：本研究发现，该主题的大众报道与同期科学文献刊载的研究结论保持一致。研究结果表明，未能持续为ADM人群提供烟草戒断治疗的原因，并非研究成果转化不力。
结论：本研究结果同时显示，在该研究领域内，科学研究成果的传播速度相对较快。未来针对该领域新闻传播实践的进一步研究，或可提出将科学成果有效转化为烟草控制（tobacco control）相关大众报道的全新策略。