The use of forever free extended self help booklets for smoking relapse prevention - A qualititive process evaluation
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Author(s)
Caitlin Notley, Annie Blyth and Fujian Song
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| Presenter(s) |
Dr Caitlin Notley SSA Research Fellow, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich |
Abstract Aims: To understand unique patient perspectives of use of self help booklets for the prevention of smoking relapse.
Design: An embedded qualitative (Grounded Theory) study.
Setting: A randomised controlled trial of a British version of the Forever Free extended self-help booklets for smoking relapse-prevention (SHARPISH - ISRCTN 36980856), was an HTA funded RCT recruiting over 1400 patients from UK specialist services.
Participants: All participants contributed free text questionnaire responses. A purposive sub-sample of 44 participants across both trial groups were interviewed.
Analysis: Thematic content analysis of free text questionnaire responses and Grounded Theory (GT) analysis of interview data, until theoretical saturation was reached.
Findings and conclusions: The qualitative analysis found important variation. Some individuals liked and engaged with the self help booklets, whilst others reported not reading and not referring back to the booklets. This suggests that careful targeting towards those motivated to engage with self help may be beneficial. Participants reported that the educational content of the booklets often did not enhance the detailed advice that they had already received via specialist UK stop smoking services. As a cohort, participants appreciated follow up contact with a researcher and this may have impacted on long term abstinence rates.
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Presenter biography Dr Notley is a social scientist with expertise in addiction and qualitative research methods. She is a Fellow of the Society for the Study of Addiction. Her current funded work is focused on tobacco smoking relapse prevention. Most people who manage to successfully quit smoking in the short term will relapse back to smoking within 12 months, and there are currently no effective interventions to prevent smoking relapse, either in the general population or amongst specific at risk populations, such as post-partum women. This is the area that Dr Notley’s funded fellowship work addresses.
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Source of funding: This qualitative process evaluation work was supported by fellowship funding from the Society for the Study of Addiction. It ran alongside an RCT funded by the HTA.
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Declaration of interest: None to declare
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