{
  "abstract": "Background The idea of adopting tobacco endgame policies is gaining ground in the tobacco control community. This paper explores European stakeholders’ perceptions and appraisal of facilitators and barriers in achieving national endgame policies.Methods Semi-structured qualitative interviews with 23 participants from eight countries with different tobacco control contexts were conducted in 18 individual and two focus group interviews from February to December 2023. Participant selection was based on experience and competence in tobacco control. Participants represented government agencies, research institutes and civil society from Cyprus, Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain. Thematic analysis was used to generate key themes.Results Facilitators identified for succeeding in pursuing endgame strategies include having a context of favourable international developments and modelling ‘pressure’ on global and regional level, active civil society groups and effective coordination of key players, little or no industry in the country and support across political party lines with strong-willed individuals leading the way. Frequently mentioned barriers are lobbying and strong presence of industry, emergence of new products (often promoted in social media), a stagnated denormalisation process of smoking and few or weak non-governmental organisations.Conclusion Structured national network collaboration with a common focus over time, combined with strong engagement from supranational entities, especially the European Union, is needed to proceed with successful implementation and dissemination of tobacco endgame policies in Europe.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway"
      ],
      "name": "Gunnar Sæbø"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway"
      ],
      "name": "Ingeborg Lund"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Healthcare and Social Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland"
      ],
      "name": "Hanna Ollila"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Healthcare and Social Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland"
      ],
      "name": "Otto Ruokolainen"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Chronic Disease Prevention, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland"
      ],
      "name": "Tiina Laatikainen"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Catalan Institute of Oncology, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain",
        "Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research, Barcelona, Spain"
      ],
      "name": "Dolors Carnicer-Pont"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "Maria Karekla"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "Katerina Georgiou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Health Research and Development, National Institute of Public Health, Ljubljana, Slovenia"
      ],
      "name": "Helena Koprivnikar"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of Public Health of Serbia \"Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut\", Beograd, Serbia"
      ],
      "name": "Milena Vasic"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Perceptions of facilitators and barriers to national tobacco endgame policies among European stakeholders: a qualitative analysis",
  "uid": "45473f2b-4779-5e34-8925-38104efa195d"
}