'Look after your lungs’ – a way to re-invigorate workplace smoking cessation?
Christine Owens, Director of Tobacco Control, The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, Liverpool, UK

Abstract

Introduction:

Look after your lungs, a workplace health promotion initiative by The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, provides a tool to reach smokers in the routine/manual worker groups

Aims:

(1) Increasing employee awareness of the need for smoking cessation as a means of lung cancer prevention, (2) Promoting the availability and effectiveness of the NHS Stop Smoking Service.

Methods:

Programme delivered is via employee workshops, and endeavours to work in partnership with local stop smoking service.  Fully evaluated in three phases, using self completed questionnaires the programme has demonstrated success in recruiting participants, particularly males, raising awareness, improving knowledge and facilitating behaviour change in both the short and long term

Results:

Phase One (before workshop) 19% smokers, 81% want to quit. Phase two (immediately after the workshop) 88% wanted to quit and there was an increase in knowledge. Phase Three
(3 months after the workshop 36% have quit and knowledge was maintained.

Conclusions:

This is an effective way of accessing routine and manual workers and supporting them to quit.

Recommendations:

Stop smoking services should consider training to provide this programme locally to allow them as a way of accessing this hard to reach group and re-invigorating workplace cessation following the legislation. 

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About the presenter
Chris Owens MHSc BA (Hons). Working at Liverpool City Council, in a general health promotion role when the Council developed their No Smoking Policy, in 1993, Chris asked “What about some support for smokers wanting to quit?” The answer; “Why don’t you do something?” was instrumental in her career. As Director of Tobacco Control, Chris’s duties include heading up the stop smoking team, Roy Castle Fag Ends, who provide the stop smoking services for Liverpool and Knowsley. Chris represents the Foundation on a number of national bodies and was recently on the NICE guidelines development group for smoking cessation.