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Poster presentation
Stop smoking services in Cornwall
Simon Bennett
Abstract
This paper examines the success of the Stop Smoking Service
(SSS) in Cornwall, a rural location with pockets of high
deprivation. The Service was incorporated within a Health
Action Zone in 1999. A telephone survey of a sample of
clients of the SSS took place 52 weeks following registration.
Quota sampling was used by age, gender, and outcome. A
revised definition of success reflected the progress made
by many quitters; a successful quitter was not smoking
at the time of the follow up and had not relapsed from
the quit attempt for more than 30 days over the 12 month
period. Those who were not smoking at the time of follow-up
but did not otherwise fulfil this definition are described
as 'partially successful'.
From a client base of 8477, a total of 1389 clients were
interviewed, of whom 270 (19.4%) were successful, 101
(7.3%) partially successful and 1018 (73.3%) unsuccessful.
The success rates were 20.7% for men and 18.5% for women.
Those who saw specialist Stop Smoking Nurses reported
higher success rates than those whose main contact was
a pharmacist, GP or helpline. Factors identified as reasons
for not quitting included stress at home (44% of unsuccessful
quitters), lack of willpower (33%) and enjoyment of smoking
(12%). Three quarters of users described the service as
'very helpful' or 'quite helpful' - these approval ratings
ranged from 89% for successful quitters to 72% for those
who were unsuccessful. It is argued that the 4-week definition
of success used by the Department of Health is insufficient
to judge the progress of many quitters.
Simon Bennett
Room E109, Opie Building,
Trevenson Road, Redruth,
Cornwall TR15 3RD
Tel: 01209 616162
simon.bennett@cbs.ac.uk
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