Smoking Cessation Practices in Community Treatment Programs Abstract: The delivery of health services to reduce cigarette smoking and other tobacco use among high-risk populations, such as substance abuse treatment-seeking individuals, may reduce cancer-related morbidity and mortality. To date, there is little national-level data on the delivery of smoking cessation (and other tobacco use) services in substance abuse treatment settings. Furthermore, there is no data regarding the adoption and implementation of the Public Health Service clinical practice guideline, Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence in these facilities. Our research is gathering organizational-level and counselor-level data by building upon three existing nationally representative samples of facilities: 400 publicly funded specialty substance abuse treatment centers, 400 privately funded centers, and 400 therapeutic communities. Telephone interviews with program directors are determining whether centers have: 1) adopted and implemented the guideline, including the 5 A's, pharmacotherapies, and psycho-social interventions; 2) adopted environmental tobacco-related policies; and 3) provide insurance coverage for employee smoking cessation. Mailback questionnaires are being distributed to counselors to assess their attitudes toward smoking cessation and the extent to which they deliver these services. Integration of these data with information collected from these facilities in 2002-2003 is allowing for multivariate modeling of the organizational characteristics associated with guideline adoption and implementation as well as a longitudinal analysis of pharmacotherapy adoption. The information collected in this research represents valuable information about the services delivered to a population at high-risk of tobacco-related cancers and identify barriers to such service delivery.
Principal Investigator: Hannah K. Knudsen (email) |
