General discussion 399 12 not completely. Additionally, factors that can be influenced through social policy, such as financial stress and precarity, strongly influence one’s ability to quit smoking. Hence policy makers should be aware of the impact of social policy on (health) behaviour. Stigma In the same line of reasoning, society often deems smoking an individual responsibility. Especially among healthcare workers this might be conflicting, as working in an environment focussed on improving health and smoking does not match. Interviews detailed in Chapter 10 revealed that healthcare workers sometimes feel ashamed of their smoking habits and are hesitant to disclose their participation in a smoking cessation program to their colleagues. The latter might be due to the fact that if one fails, colleagues will know about it. It may have also hampered recruitment in the PERSIST trial. In some cases, however, shame can also be used as a motivator; it is important to keep these sentiments in mind. Preventing failed interventions Disseminating findings of a study that failed in the recruitment phase presents a challenge. Beyond the challenge to get null results published, responsible researchers have to deal with feelings of disappointment and failure. Notably, the dissemination of results from unsuccessful interventions demands a cautious approach, given the fine line between overemphasizing findings, making claims beyond what is substantiated by the data, and underselling null results without contribution to the scientific field. It is essential to recognize that in some instances the absence of expected results may in itself be instructive. In public health research, participant recruitment forms an important part of the field, and we owe it to these participants to always improve ourselves. Multidisciplinary To end the methodological section on a positive note, a major strength of this dissertation was its multidisciplinary character. Working with economists to improve a smoking cessation programme based on behavioural economic theories, or investigating tobacco-related mortality using demographic research methods: multidisciplinary collaborations introduced new angles to traditional public health topics and resulted in new insights. Furthermore, combining
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw