Quit Smoking Options Offered to Connecticut Residents

Yale University: Yale University-Griffin Hospital Prevention Research Center

Topics:
Tobacco Prevention & Control

Researchers developed a multiple approach to smoking cessation and tested it among a subset of smokers living in Connecticut’s Lower Naugatuck Valley. The aim was a 40 percent quit rate among study participants, compared with 25 percent in most smoking cessation programs. Participants completed a questionnaire rating the importance of seven factors that interfere with a smoker’s ability to quit (nicotine addiction, depression, anxiety, stress, chemical dependency, weight control, and living with another smoker). The researchers used the results to refer participants to one or more interventions: individual counseling, medication, weight management, exercise groups, and family dinners advocating smoking cessation. In addition, all participants attended ongoing group counseling. After 1 year, 42 percent of the participants had quit smoking, exceeding researchers’ goals. Similar interventions are now being offered to high school students and worksite groups and will eventually be offered to all residents of the valley. Plans are also under way to make the questionnaire available to primary care physicians to help them prescribe appropriate smoking-cessation plans for their patients.

 

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