Objective: To describe the Talking About The Smokes (TATS) project according to the World Health Organization guiding principles for conducting community‐based participatory research (PR) involving indigenous peoples, to assist others planning large‐scale PR projects. Design, setting and participants: The TATS project was initiated in Australia in 2010 as part of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, and surveyed a representative sample of 2522 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults to assess the impact of tobacco control policies. The PR process of the TATS project, which aimed to build partnerships to create equitable conditions for knowledge production, was mapped and summarised onto a framework adapted from the WHO principles. Main outcome measures: Processes describing consultation and approval, partnerships and research agreements, communication, funding, ethics and consent, data and benefits of the research. Results: The TATS project involved baseline and follow‐up surveys conducted in 34 Aboriginal community‐controlled health services and one Torres Strait community. Consistent with the WHO PR principles, the TATS project built on community priorities and strengths through strategic partnerships from project inception, and demonstrated the value of research agreements and trusting relationships to foster shared decision making, capacity building and a commitment to Indigenous data ownership. Conclusions: Community‐based PR methodology, by definition, needs adaptation to local settings and priorities. The TATS project demonstrates that large‐scale research can be participatory, with strong Indigenous community engagement and benefits.

Objectives: To describe recall among a national sample of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers and recent ex-smokers of having received advice to quit smoking and referral to non-pharmacological cessation support from health professionals, and their association with quit attempts.

Objectives: To describe attitudes towards smoking in a national sample of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers and recent quitters and assess how they are associated with quitting, and to compare these attitudes with those of smokers in the general Australian population.Design, setting and participants: The Talking About The Smokes project used a quota sampling design to recruit participants from communities served by 34 Aboriginal community-controlled health services and one community in the Torres Strait. We surveyed 1392 daily smokers, 251 nondaily smokers and 78 recent quitters from April 2012 to October 2013.Main outcome measures: Personal attitudes towards smoking and quitting, wanting to quit, and attempting to quit in the past year.Results: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander daily smokers were less likely than daily smokers in the general Australian population to report enjoying smoking (65% v 81%) and more likely to disagree that smoking is an important part of their life (49% v 38%); other attitudes were similar between the two groups. In the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sample, non-daily smokers generally held less positive attitudes towards smoking compared with daily smokers, and ex-smokers who had quit within the past year reported positive views about quitting. Among the daily smokers, 78% reported regretting starting to smoke and 81% reported spending too much money on cigarettes, both of which were positively associated with wanting and attempting to quit; 32% perceived smoking to be an important part of their life, which was negatively associated with both quit outcomes; and 83% agreed that smoking calms them down when stressed, which was not associated with the quitting outcomes.Conclusions: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers were less likely than those in the general population to report positive reasons to smoke and held similar views about the negative aspects, suggesting that factors other than personal attitudes may be responsible for the high continuing smoking rate in this population.Personal attitudes towards smoking in a national sample of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers and recent quitters C ontemporary theories of smoking and other addictive behaviours see attitudes as one set of forces influencing behaviour.

Objective: To examine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's protection from second‐hand smoke at home and work. Design, setting and participants: The Talking About The Smokes project surveyed 2522 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from communities served by 34 Aboriginal community‐controlled health services and one community in the Torres Strait, using quota sampling, from April 2012 to October 2013. We made comparisons with data from Australian smokers in the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project), collected from either July 2010 to May 2011 or September 2011 to February 2012. Main outcome measures: Whether smoking was not allowed anywhere in the home, or not allowed in any indoor area at work. Results: More than half (56%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers and 80% of non‐smokers reported that smoking was never allowed anywhere in their home. Similar percentages of daily smokers in our sample and the Australian ITC Project data reported bans. Most employed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander daily smokers (88%) reported that smoking was not allowed in any indoor area at work, similar to the Australian ITC Project estimate. Smokers working in smoke‐free workplaces were more likely to have smoke‐free homes than those in workplaces where smoking was allowed indoors (odds ratio, 2.85; 95% CI, 1.67–4.87). Smokers who lived in smoke‐free homes were more likely to have made a quit attempt in the past year, to want to quit, and to have made quit attempts of 1 month or longer. Conclusion: Most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are protected from second‐hand smoke at work, and similar proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers and other Australian smokers do not allow smoking inside their homes.

Objectives: To describe social normative beliefs about smoking in a national sample of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to assess the relationship of these beliefs with quitting. Design, setting and participants: The Talking About The Smokes project used a quota sampling design to recruit participants from communities served by 34 Aboriginal community‐controlled health services and one community in the Torres Strait. We surveyed 1392 daily smokers, 251 non‐daily smokers, 311 ex‐smokers and 568 never‐smokers from April 2012 to October 2013. Main outcome measures: Eight normative beliefs about smoking; wanting and attempting to quit. Results: Compared with daily smokers in the general Australian population, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander daily smokers were less likely to report that mainstream society disapproves of smoking (78.5% v 62%). Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander daily smokers, 40% agreed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders where they live disapprove of smoking, 70% said there are increasingly fewer places they feel comfortable smoking, and most (90%) believed non‐smokers set a good example to children. Support for the government to do more to tackle the harm caused by smoking was much higher than in the general Australian population (80% v 47.2%). These five normative beliefs were all associated with wanting to quit. Non‐smokers reported low levels of pressure to take up smoking. Conclusion: Tobacco control strategies that involve the leadership and participation of local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders, particularly strategies that emphasise protection of others, may be an important means of reinforcing beliefs that smoking is socially unacceptable, thus boosting motivation to quit.