Jacqueline M Bailey, Kate M Bartlem and Jenny A Bowman
Presenter(s)
Dr Kate Bartlem Research Fellow, School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
Abstract
Introduction: Family carers are acknowledged to play a critical role in supporting the care provided by health and community services to people with a mental illness. Carers’ expectations regarding the delivery of smoking cessation care within such services however have not been examined.
Aims: To explore carer expectations of smoking cessation care provision by four types of health services, to clients with a mental illness, and factors associated with expectations.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with carers of a person with a mental illness residing in New South Wales, Australia. Possible associations between carer expectation of smoking cessation care provision and socio-demographic and attitudinal variables were explored with logistic regression analyses.
Results: Of 144 carers, the majority considered that smoking cessation care should be provided by: mental health hospitals(71.4%), community mental health services(78.0%), general practice(82.7%), and non-government organisations(56.6%). The factor most consistently related to expectation of care was a belief that smoking cessation could positively impact mental health.
Conclusions: The majority of carers expected smoking cessation treatment to be provided by all services catering for people with a mental illness, reinforcing the need for such services to provide smoking cessation care for clients in an effective and systematic manner.
Source of funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
