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Social support
Fiona Gillison
Abstract
Social support is reliably found to have a positive impact
on the success of smoking cessation as well as in the
maintenance of abstinence. Factors such as living with
other smokers or having a partner who smokes are often
highly predictive of relapse. Stop smoking treatments
have therefore been designed to enhance social support
in recognition of its importance, however the evidence
on which such techniques are based is often equivocal.
This session will critically review the current evidence
of the common means of facilitating social support in
a clinical setting. This includes methods such as the
provision of group support, 'buddy' systems, and enhancing
a smoker's existing social networks. Issues in translating
the theory into practice in a variety of settings will
be addressed through practical examples and discussion
of participants own experiences in facilitating social
support in practice.
Biography
Fiona Gillison joined the Tobacco Dependence Research
and Treatment Centre (TDRTC) at Barts and The London School
of Medicine and Dentistry in 2000, having completed a
Masters degree in Health Psychology at City University,
and spent some time working with a newly formed primary
care group (now a primary care trust). During her time
at the TDRTC, she coordinated the East London Specialist
Smokers Clinic and contributed to the Centre's range of
research projects, taking a particular interest in relapse
prevention. In 2003 she led in the development of a weight
management clinic for ex-smokers, using a similar model
of social and behavioural support to that used in smoking
cessation. She has now moved to Bath University to undertake
a PhD in Health Psychology, and continues to be involved
in the training of smoking cessation advisers.
Fiona Gillison
Health Psychologist, School for Health, University of
Bath
sppfbg@bath.ac.uk
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