YEREVAN, Armenia — The American University of Armenia’s (AUA) Turpanjian College of Health Sciences (CHS) is pleased to announce that Varduhi Hayrumyan, M.S. (MPH ’16); Zhanna Sargsyan, M.S. (MPH ’18); Varduhi Petrosyan, M.S., Ph.D.; and Nour Alayan, R.N., Ph.D., from the Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development, have co-authored two peer-reviewed publications on promoting smoke-free homes in Armenia and Georgia. The studies were implemented in collaboration with George Washington University, Emory University, the National Institute of Health named after Academician S. Avdalbekyan, and the Georgian National Center for Disease Control and Public Health. The research has been supported by the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
The first article, titled “Facilitators and barriers to implementing smoke-free homes in Armenia: a qualitative study,” examines the perceptions of Armenian adults — both smokers and non-smokers — regarding the implementation of smoke-free home rules. Drawing on focus group discussions conducted in regional communities, the study identifies key motivators, such as protecting children’s health, and main barriers, including gender dynamics and cultural norms around smoking. The article was published in Global Health Promotion (Impact Factor: 1.7), a peer-reviewed journal of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education that focuses on applied health promotion research and policy, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
The second publication, titled “Adapting a brief smoke-free homes intervention for communities in Armenia and Georgia,” describes the cultural and contextual adaptation of a U.S.-developed evidence-based intervention to promote smoke-free homes in Armenia and Georgia. Using a multi-step adaptation process, the team incorporated local feedback, imagery, and messaging to reflect the realities of households in both countries. The adapted intervention is currently being implemented. The article was published in Health Promotion International (Impact Factor: 2.3), a leading Q1-ranked journal published by Oxford University Press that features research on the global development of health promotion theory, practice, and policy.
The AUA Turpanjian College of Health Sciences works actively to improve population health and health services in Armenia and the region through interdisciplinary education and development of health professionals to be leaders in public health, nursing, health services research and evaluation, and health care delivery and management.