The impact of exhaled carbon monoxide measurement in the motivation to quit smoking
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Author(s)
Viktorija Andrejevaite and Jonas Bieliauskas
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| Presenter(s) |
Viktorija Andrejevaite PhD Student, General Practitioner, Vilnius University, Lithuania |
Abstract According to the smoking cessation treatment algorithm we must not only provide treatment for smokers who are ready to quit but also enhance motivation for smokers who don’t want or are not ready to quit. It is a challenge to find an effective intervention that general practitioners (GP) could use to increase smokers awareness of personal risk and influence behavior change. We hypothesised that providing smokers with biologically based evidence of smoking related harm (carbon monoxide exposure) was an effective way to induce individual change for transition to the other stage of motivation.
A sample of 170 GP patients, who were smokers, received a very brief advice and were opportunistically randomised to receive a booklet with general information about smoking cessation (booklet group) or carbon monoxide exposure tailored feedback (CO group).
Participants were surveyed (motivational stage and nicotine dependence) immediately before intervention and telephoned 1 month later to assess the impact in motivation to quit. There were 82 patients in the booklet group and 88 smokers in the CO group. The mean age was 34.5±14.3y, 86 were male. 106 smokers had mild, 58 moderate, and 6 heavy nicotine dependence. Before intervention there were 45 (26.5%) smokers in pre-contemplation, 53 (31.2%) in contemplation and 72 (42.4%) in preparation stages. Both groups were not
different in these characteristics. After intervention 24 (29.3%) smokers changed to the higher motivational stage in the “booklet group” and 28 (31.8%) in “CO group”.
There was no statistically significant difference between the booklet and CO measurement interventions (p>0.05). The results suggest that the CO exposure intervention was not superior to the simple intervention using booklet to increase the motivation to quit smoking.
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Presenter biography Viktorija Andrejevaite is a PhD student in Vilnius University and has a special interest in smoking cessation as a general practitioner. In 2009 she received a tobacco dependence treatment specialist's qualification in New Jersey.
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Source of funding: None
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Declaration of interest: None
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