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Increasing success: Group vs. individual therapy - which is best?
Andy McEwen

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Abstract
There is an important debate about the most effective form of psychological treatment to aid smoking cessation. The major dichotomy in the UK national smoking cessation treatment programme is between group treatment provided by specialists and one-to-one treatment provided in the community by practice nurses or pharmacists. It is of considerable practical importance to determine which if either is more effective. Practical considerations make it unlikely that it will be possible to address this using a randomised trial, but it is possible to use a quasi experimental design.

This presentation analyses the treatment of 1,501 clients of a large London stop smoking service that set a quit date between 2001 and 2003. The service offered both group and one-to-one treatment and clients chose which one they preferred. All counsellors received formal training and regular supervision and worked according to a detailed manual. Fifty-five percent (822) of clients received group treatment from the specialist service and 45% (679) were counselled one-to-one by practice nurses or pharmacists.

Outcome data was CO-verified continuous four-week abstinence, and abstinence for the last two weeks of treatment (weeks three and four post-quit). Data were also collected on demographic characteristics, smoking history, ratings of motivation to quit, confidence in quitting and nicotine dependence (FTND). Findings will be presented of a comparison between group treatment offered by the specialist service and counselling by trained practice nurses once all possible confounding factors have been controlled for.

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Biography
Andy McEwen graduated with a social sciences degree in 1986 and qualified as a registered mental health nurse in 1990. He worked in acute and forensic psychiatry before specialising in the field of substance misuse treatment. In 1997 he completed an MSc in Addictive Behaviour at St George's Hospital Medical School before beginning his clinical and then academic career in smoking cessation there with Professor Robert West. In 2003 he took up post as Senior Research Nurse at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Unit, University College London. He referees for a variety of academic journals and also acts as a consultant to the Department of Health, Health Development Agency and to a number of smoking cessation services on the delivery of treatment services. He retains an interest in nursing research and is lead research nurse for St George's NHS Trust. His current research includes surveys of smokers and health professionals, pharmacokinetic studies on nicotine delivery systems and clinical trials of behavioural treatments.

Andy McEwen
Senior Research Nurse,
Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Unit
andy.mcewen@ucl.ac.uk

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