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