Potential sources of cessation support for high smoking prevalence groups: a qualitative study

Smoking Cessation Support in Social and Community Service Organizations: Potential Activities, Barriers, and Facilitators

INTRODUCTION

Social and Community Service Organizations (SCSOs) are a potential setting to reach and support people with a low socioeconomic position who smoke, yet smoking cessation is not widely supported by SCSO professionals.

AIMS AND METHODS

This study aims to identify SCSO professionals' (1) potential activities to support smoking cessation and (2) barriers and facilitators in undertaking these activities. Between July and November 2022, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 professionals recruited through SCSOs in Amsterdam North, including participation workers, welfare workers, parent and child counselors, budget coach, debt counselor, welfare work, community sports, and community center coordinators. Data were analyzed using a thematic approach.

RESULTS

Eight activities were identified that could support the client either directly (ie, recognizing smoking clients, discussing smoking and smoking cessation, referring clients, providing smoking cessation counseling, offering help around services) or indirectly (ie, collaboration with relevant network partners, implementing smoke-free environments, enhancing professional skills). Various barriers and facilitators were identified related to the (1) client and their environment (ie, clients' readiness and social environment), (2) interaction between professional and client (ie, topic sensitivity), (3) professional (ie, professional is non-smoker, knowledge, and self-efficacy), (4) professionals' work environment (ie, necessity, responsibility, priority, and time), and (5) smoking cessation services (ie, availability of appropriate services and referral process).

CONCLUSIONS

There is potential for SCSO professionals to support smoking cessation, but several barriers hinder their efforts. To address these barriers, it is essential to take into account the factors that SCSO professionals believe facilitate the provision of smoking cessation support.

IMPLICATIONS

This study provides insight into how the potential of SCSOs in Amsterdam North to support smoking cessation efforts among people with a low socioeconomic position can be harnessed. Barriers were found at multiple levels (client, professional, client-professional interaction, and organizational) and these findings imply that stakeholders across these levels will need to prioritize smoking cessation to facilitate and stimulate SCSO professionals in supporting smoking cessation. A concrete action would be to offer SCSO professionals additional training in conversational skills to discuss smoking. As a prerequisite, easily accessible and suitable smoking cessation services should be available in the neighborhood.

A population-level analysis of changes in Australian smokers' preferences for smoking cessation support over two decades - from 1998 to 2017

Background

Encouraging and assisting smokers to quit remains a key public health goal. Government and commercial initiatives have nudged smokers towards supported cessation. We tracked long-term trends in Australian smokers’ quit attempt methods across 20 years.

Methods

Data from 11,917 smokers were collected from an annual, cross-sectional, face-to-face, random and representative population survey. The survey measured demographic characteristics, tobacco use, recent quit attempts, nicotine dependence, quit intentions, and recent methods used when attempting to quit. Quit attempt preferences were analysed over time and by smoker characteristics.

Findings

Each year, more smokers attempted to quit than remained quit, with a stable trend over time. Socioeconomic disadvantage and mental health conditions are more likely among smokers, but there was no difference in quit attempts by these characteristics. Quit attempts have risen among those aged 60 years and over whereas other age groups have remained stable. Although trending downwards, unassisted quitting remained the most common method: 1998: 61% and 2017: 40%. Asking a doctor for help/advice (34%) was the most common assisted method in 2017, increasing from 18% in 1998. Methods of quitting varied by smoker characteristics, with supported methods used more often by older, more dependent, socio-economically disadvantaged smokers and those with a mental health condition.

Interpretation

The relative stability of recent quit attempts, persistence in unassisted quitting, and fluctuating preferences for supported cessation methods indicate that it is important for clinicians and policy makers to continue to support quit attempts through a variety of options, tailored to smoker's needs.

Exploring features of social support in a Chinese online smoking cessation community: A multidimensional content analysis of user interaction data

Due to the rapid development of information technology, an increasing number of smokers choose online smoking cessation communities to interact with other individuals to help themselves quit smoking. Though it is well known that social support plays a key role in the process of smoking cessation, the features of social support that one can get from online smoking cessation communities remain unclear. We collected user interaction data from the largest Chinese online smoking cessation community, the quit smoking forum of Baidu Tieba. We selected 2758 replies from 29 active repliers and 408 correlated posts as our data set. Multidimensional content analysis is carried out from three aspects: posting scenarios, user quitting behavior stages, and types of social support. This article also explores the co-occurrence relationships of different types of social support by social network analysis. Results showed that users receive different compositions of social support in various posting scenarios and behavior stages. In most cases, emotional support is the most typical support the community provides. The community will provide more informational support when needed. Besides, informational support, especially personal experience and perceptual knowledge, has more diverse combination patterns with other types of social support. "Gratitude-Mutual assistance" and "Encouragement-Mutual assistance" are the most frequent co-occurrence relationships. The online smoking cessation community brings people who quit smoking together, and users provide rich types of social support for each other. Users can effectively obtain expected social support in different posting scenarios and smoking cessation stages. Smoking cessation projects should be designed to promote user communication and interaction, which positively affects achieving users' smoking cessation goals.

Preferences for Tobacco Cessation Information and Support During Covid-19

OBJECTIVE

To identify how best to provide smoking cessation advice and support during the Covid-19 pandemic. Preferences were assessed in relation to: (i) specific forms of tobacco cessation support (eg, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and various counseling formats); (ii) information sources (eg, government officials, doctors); and (iii) channels via which to receive relevant information (eg, television, social media).

METHODS

An online survey was administered to adults who smoke tobacco in Australia (n = 604) and the UK (n = 600). Descriptive analyses were conducted to identify levels of interest in cessation support and information provision. Differences in responses according to demographic characteristics and smoking history were assessed.

RESULTS

Around half of the respondents were interested in receiving personal counseling and/or participating in a text support program over the next month. By far the most popular delivery mechanism for personal counseling was email. Three-quarters of the sample expressed an interest in receiving free, home-delivered NRT. The most popular information sources nominated by respondents seeking more information about smokers' Covid-related risks were government departments and their doctor/general practitioner. Television and online news sources were the most preferred information dissemination channels.

CONCLUSIONS

The substantial levels of interest expressed in accessing various forms of cessation assistance within the next month suggest that Covid-19 may be increasing receptiveness to quitting. The strong interest in free, home-delivered NRT indicates that this may be a useful mechanism for facilitating quit attempts during the pandemic.

Factors influencing the willingness of community service organisation staff to provide smoking cessation support: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore factors influencing community service organisation (CSO) staff members' willingness to provide tobacco cessation support to clients experiencing disadvantage.

METHODS

Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 staff members from seven services in the alcohol and other drugs, homelessness, and mental health sectors in Western Australia.

RESULTS

The primary barriers to providing cessation support were believing that addressing smoking was not a priority relative to other issues, being a current smoker, and the lack of a formal tobacco cessation program within the organisation. Factors that appeared to be most influential in enabling the delivery of cessation support were organisational processes requiring staff to routinely ask clients about tobacco use, confidence to provide support, and being a past smoker.

CONCLUSIONS

The introduction of organisational procedures that include routine cessation care should be of high priority in CSOs to help reduce smoking rates among clients. Staff may also benefit from receiving training in the provision of cessation support and education about the importance and feasibility of addressing smoking concurrently with other issues. Implications for public health: The results may inform future efforts to increase the delivery of cessation care to groups of people experiencing disadvantage and comorbidity.