East Sussex County Council commissioned ICE to explore tobacco and alcohol related behaviours in groups with high smoking prevalence and those at risk of harmful or dependent drinking. This insight aims to ensure the experiences and views of key groups are understood and reflected in the design of any future interventions. The background and objectives for each focus area are outlined below.
2025 ICE East Sussex Tobacco Exec Summary (pdf, 126KB)
2025 ICE East Sussex Report (pdf, 1MB)
2025 ICE East Sussex Alcohol Exec Summary (pdf, 138KB)
Exploring smoking behaviours and support needs
Supporting the government’s Smokefree Generation initiative, East Sussex County Council aims to improve stop smoking services and increase engagement with targeted interventions to help people quit smoking. A deeper understanding of smoking behaviours and experiences in key health inequality groups is needed to tailor local support. The specific objectives of this research include to:
- Identify why people in key groups started smoking and continued to smoke.
- Explore the steps people are currently taking to stop smoking, identify key enablers, and determine what additional support from smoking cessation services is needed to encourage smokers in target groups to consider quitting, make a quit attempt, and successfully quit.
- Examine personal motivations for quitting smoking, including expectations, drivers, and barriers.
- Identify how factors related to capability, opportunity and motivation can be tapped into to maximise brief stop smoking interventions to reduce smoking prevalence.