Dr Aimee Grant Senior Health Promotion Practitioner, Public Health Wales
Abstract
The use of Carbon Monoxide (CO) testing is part of the ‘gold standard’ for implementation of intensive behavioural support for smoking cessation (West et al, 2000). It has been widely adopted by UK National Health Service (NHS) stop smoking services. Previous research has found CO monitoring to be motivating for clients (National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training, 2012), although this has not been explored in detail in the literature.
The paper presents the findings from in-depth interviews with 23 clients of Stop Smoking Wales, Wales’ NHS specialist smoking cessation service. In particular, clients’ views and experiences of carbon monoxide testing will be described. The results support previous research in finding that CO monitoring was highly motivating.
Additionally, the paper expands on existing knowledge by examining why clients found CO monitoring motivating. Overall, the visual representation of progress was seen as most useful. This was related to several factors including being ‘caught cheating’ in their quit attempt, competition with their peers and not wanting to disappoint themselves or their advisor. These themes will be discussed with reference to direct quotes from service users. Implications for stop smoking services will also be examined.
