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.研究背景：尽管酒精、药物滥用与心理健康（Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health, ADM）人群的烟草成瘾会带来极为严重的健康后果，且已有研究证实戒烟治疗的有效性，但这类人群并未持续获得戒烟干预服务。然而，政策制定者在规范治疗方案时，往往倾向于依赖大众媒体报道而非科学文献。本研究旨在探究大众报道是否准确反映了针对接受治疗的ADM人群的戒烟治疗相关科学文献结论。 研究方法：我们将2004年之前发表的戒烟治疗系统综述结果，与后续8年间传统媒体及互联网上刊发的相关文章进行对比。通过检索LexisNexis与Google数据库，并采用科学质量指数（Index of Scientific Quality, ISQ）对文献进行评估。 研究结果：本研究发现，该主题的大众报道与同期科学文献所报道的结论保持一致。结果表明，未持续为接受治疗的ADM人群提供戒烟干预服务，并非源于研究成果转化不力。 研究结论：本研究结果同时显示，在该主题领域内，科学研究成果的传播速度相对较快。未来针对该领域新闻报道的进一步研究，或可提出将科学研究成果有效转化为烟草防控大众报道的新策略。