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Stop smoking mobile road show – a pilot initiative from Newham
Liz Hughes, Stop Smoking Programme Manager and Meghna Vithlani, Stop Smoking Advisor - Primary Care, Newham PCT, London, UK
Abstract
Newham Primary Care Trust organised a mobile stop smoking road show to take stop smoking advice directly to the local population. Our aim was to encourage people to take practical advice and support to stop smoking.
Methods: Launched on 5th January 2009, a 10.5 metre long vehicle with eye catching campaign messaging was used for the road show. It visited five high footfall locations daily throughout the borough during the 12-week campaign. Onboard facilities included the following: Comfortable seating areas where people can talk to members of the Newham Stop Smoking team. Facilities to conduct both ‘lung age’ testing and carbon monoxide testing. An interactive touch-screen display offering a short, informative quiz for casual visitors and weekly motivational support for registered quitters who could access tailored information via personalised swipe cards. Two DVD stations providing multilingual information about different ways to stop smoking.
Results:
Total visitors 4,841
Lung age tests 3,910
Total number setting a quit date 663
Returnees 505
Conclusion: The road show proved to be a highly successful campaign in encouraging the local population to set quit dates. We believe this model could be readily adopted within other boroughs with success.
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About the presenter
Liz Hughes has been employed by Newham PCT as the Stop Smoking Programme Manager since November 2007. Prior to that Liz worked for QUIT as the Regional Project Manager for the Quit Because young peoples project. She has a BSc in Psychology (UWE) and an MSc in Health Psychology (Bath).
Meghna Vithlani has been employed by Newham PCT as a stop smoking advisor Primary care since April 2008. Prior to this she was working for Bromley community Drug Project and Drug Abuse Information Rehabilitation and Research Centre as a Substance Misuse Coordinator. She has a B.H.M.S Bachelors in Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery (India) and MSc in Clinical and Public Health Aspects of Addiction – Kings College London.
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