Chapter 12 400 qualitative and quantitative research methods appeared essential to bridge the gap between people and numbers, especially in the evaluation of the PERSIST trial. Smoking is a complex behaviour, influenced by many aspects of society. Initiatives to promote transdisciplinary collaboration such as the Smarter Choices for Better Health initiative can help understanding all, or at least more, facets to a problem. Policy recommendations Up to recently there was a fair basis for optimism in tobacco control; in Western countries smoking rates declined, the share of people protected against secondhand smoke increased, and tobacco control regulations were implemented increasingly. The most recent Global Burden of Disease reports indicate that declining lung cancer rates in the age group 50-74 years, but not in 75+ years might be a cohort effect and could be encouraging if it reflects a greater response to tobacco control measures in younger generations.18 Therefore it is important to not only remain aware of the long-term consequences of tobacco use and exposure, but also keep monitoring tobacco-related mortality. In Chapter 2 we showed that smoking-attributable mortality is not at its peak yet among women. This research should serve as an important reminder to policy makers, showing that tobacco regulations may have small immediate effects but can have an important contribution in the future. Public health research benefits from such cross-country comparisons in order to learn from each other’s challenges and successes. Learning from other countries was also central in the multidisciplinary paper in Chapter 7. Based on experiences in the UK and France, a direct recommendation to the Dutch government is to implement legislation to regulate smoking in cars with children and pregnant women. Our evidence has revealed robust public support for this initiative, and assessments conducted in the UK and Canada showed that children’s exposure to tobacco smoke in cars dropped substantially following the enforcement of such policies, with a Scottish study also demonstrating respiratory health benefits.4,19 Acknowledging that direct appeals to governmental bodies within a dissertation may not yield the intended policy outcomes, we have looked for alternative ways to bridge the gap between academic research and practical policy implementation. We disseminated the results of Chapter 6 and 7 using science communication. The website www.rijrookvrij.nl was established to share the most important highlights regarding tobacco smoke exposure in cars with children. In September
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