Helping People Quit
March 2008
Most tobacco users want
to quit
About 46 million Americans smoke regularly, and 70 percent of those men,
women, and children want to quit. Quitting is not easy, but
studies show that tobacco users are two times more likely to quit
successfully if they receive help, especially skills training,
counseling, and medication, such as nicotine patches and gum.
Tobacco cessation programs prevent more deaths
for less cost than other commonly provided clinical therapies such as
mammography, colon cancer screening, and treatment of both high blood
pressure and high cholesterol.
Washington Tobacco Quit Line
Washington
introduced the toll-free telephone Tobacco Quit Line in November 2000 and has
since provided services to more than 100,000
callers. Quit line callers receive:
- Individualized counseling from specialists skilled in working with
all forms of tobacco addiction.
- Development of a customized quit plan over the phone, including
skill-building and problem-solving advice.
- Relapse prevention techniques.
- Pharmacological support
information.
- Referrals to available community
cessation support resources.
- A mailed Tobacco Quit Kit
including materials tailored to the caller's needs, readiness to
quit, and education level.
- Specialized services for
pregnant women and those who chew tobacco.
- Nicotine replacement treatment
(the patch and gum) are available at no cost upon recommendation of
the quit coach.
Some quit line callers who don’t have health
insurance or are covered by Medicaid are offered intensive follow-up
services, including telephone support calls from quit line specialists,
and in some cases, nicotine patches or gum.
Health care provider
training
Research has shown that more patients will quit tobacco when advised
to do so by their doctors, so the Tobacco Program trains local health
departments and others to supply doctors, dentists, and other healthcare
providers with quit line information. The Tobacco Program also
trains healthcare providers on how to talk to their patients about
quitting and helps them develop systems to track a patient’s progress in
quitting. Research has shown that 5- to 15-minutes of counseling
by a healthcare provider can change smoking behavior, and more intensive
interventions can have an even greater impact.
Counseling for
low-income pregnant women
The
Tobacco Program trains Department of Social and Health Services case
managers to counsel their patients – low-income pregnant women – about
quitting tobacco and reducing the amount of secondhand smoke in their
homes.
Training for chemical
dependency professionals
The Tobacco Program partners with the Department of
Social and Health Services’ Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse to
train chemical dependency professionals on treating tobacco as a primary
addiction. The program also is collaborating to make treatment
centers smoke-free.
Community and school
programs
Nationwide, there are several programs underway that promise to help
young people quit using tobacco. Through activities in both communities
and schools, the “No On Tobacco” (NOT) and “Ending Nicotine Dependence”
(END) programs are being implemented throughout the state.
A comprehensive
approach to fighting tobacco use
Research shows that tobacco prevention programs must conduct a
comprehensive set of strategies to be effective. The Washington
State Tobacco Prevention and Control Program provides services to help
people quit, conducts public awareness and media campaigns, supports local
programs in communities and schools, supports enforcement of policies to
keep kids from accessing tobacco products, and evaluates the effectiveness
of program activities.
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