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Help with stopping smoking: Who's asking for it? Who needs it?
Peter Hajek
Abstract
Many smokers stop smoking prompted by health promotion messages and tobacco control initiatives, and do not require specialist treatments. Many others however need such help. The presentation will consider some of the issues contributing to smokers' decision to seek treatment, and factors which may determine the intensity of the help required. The talk will also attempt to address the relationship between a clinical service aiming to help individual smokers who cannot stop on their own, and broader tobacco control initiatives aiming to reduce smoking prevalence. The balance of these two important parts of the overall public health strategy differs across countries and time periods. Although both are addressing the same core issue and can and should work together, they have different roles. Policies and targets which fail to differentiate between them can create a pressure to replace specialist clinics with a return to brief routine primary care interventions.
Biography
Peter Hajek is Professor of Clinical Psychology, Head of Psychology, and Director of Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London. His research is concerned primarily with understanding smoking behaviour, and developing and evaluating smoking cessation treatments. He authored or co-authored over 200 publications, holds various academic and editorial appointments, and had input in the UK Government initiative to establish smoking cessation services. His Unit is involved in examining both behavioural and pharmacological interventions, and in offering treatment to dependent smokers who seek help.
Peter Hajek
Professor of Clinical Psychology
Queen Mary
Turner Street
London
E1 2AD
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