Stephen Sutton, Irwin Nazareth, Richard Morris and Irene Petersen
Presenter(s)
Dr Hazel Gilbert Chartered Health Psychologist & Honorary Principal Research Fellow, Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London
Abstract
he English NHS Stop Smoking Services (SSSs) offer smokers a significantly higher chance of stopping smoking compared with quitting without support, but these services are consistently under-used, and recent figures of attendance show a continuing downward trend.
We conducted a randomised controlled trial using proactive recruitment strategies to assess the effect of an intervention comprising a brief personal risk letter and invitation to a no-commitment taster session, compared with a generic letter advertising the service, on attendance at the SSS. The aim of the study was to encourage more smokers to seek, or accept, help and to use the services provided, and to subsequently increase the success of quit attempts.
Eighteen SSSs and 99 general practices participated in the trial, and 4383 smokers, identified from medical records in participating practices, were recruited and randomised to the intervention (n=2635) or control group (n=1748). Attendance at the SSS and 7-day point-prevalent abstinence were measured at the 6-month follow-up. Participants in the intervention group were more than twice as likely to attend the SSS than those in the control group (17.4% vs 9.0%, OR 2.12[1.75–2.57], p<0.001).
Full results of this trial will be presented, and implications of the findings for SSSs discussed.
Source of funding: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research HTA Programme (Project Number 08/58/02).
Declaration of interest: Dr Hazel Gilbert has no competing interests to declare
