Build the Bridges: from Capacity Building to Practice

The overall goal of this project is to train a cohort of physicians in three target cities in China to promote and support development of smokefree workplaces by providing training and technical assistance and smoking cessation services to private companies. The project builds on an existing network of companies and local health officials established under the US-China Smokefree Workplace Initiative (CUSW).  The project targets three cities—Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing—where CUSW has already conducted need assessments in collaboration with local health officials. While over 285 companies have joined the CUSW network, pledging to support employee health and taking concrete steps towards making their workplaces smokefree, the majority of companies that participated in a needs assessment also expressed the need for assistance in helping employees to quit smoking. Thus, we propose to build a network of trained physicians in three cities to provide technical assistance, conduct trainings for company leaders and employees, and provide cessation services and advice. These physicians will serve as a local resource to respond to the needs of companies who are going smokefree as well as to advocate for and promote the benefits of smokefree workplaces. The data collected through evaluation of this project will be critical to informing similar efforts in other cities, and it is hoped that this project can subsequently be expanded to other regions in China.