Smoking cessation intervention in parents of young children: a randomised controlled trial
Abu Saleh M Abdullah1, Yim W Mak, Alice Y Loke
1Department of Community Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. asm.abdullah@graduate.hku.hk
Objective:
To examine whether telephone counselling based on the stages of change component of Transtheoretical model of behaviour change together with educational materials could help non-motivated smoking parents of young children to cease.
Design:
Randomised controlled trial.
Setting:
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, PR China.
Participants:
952 smoker fathers and mothers of Chinese children aged 5 years.
Intervention:
Participants were randomly allocated into two groups: the intervention group received printed self-help materials and three-session telephone-based smoking cessation counselling delivered by trained counsellors; the control group received printed self-help materials only. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection at baseline and at 1, 3 and 6 month follow up.
Main Outcome Measures:
The main outcome is 7 day point prevalence quit rate at 6 months (defined as not smoking during the 7 days preceding the 6 month follow up) determined by self reports. Other secondary outcomes were self reported 24 h point prevalence quit rate and self-reported continuous quit rate and bio-chemically validated quit rate at 6 months.
Results:
A total of 952 smoker fathers and mothers were randomized to the intervention (n = 467) and control (n = 485) groups. Most were daily smokers (92.4%) and the mean number of cigarettes smoked per day was 14.5 (SD = 8.9). By using intention-to-treat analysis, the 7 day point prevalence quit rate at 6 month follow up was significantly greater in the intervention group (15.3%; 68/444) than the control group (7.4%; 34/459) (P < 0.001). The absolute risk reduction was 7.9% (95% confidence interval: 3.78% to 12.01%). The number needed to treat to get one additional smoker to quit was 13 (95% CI: 8-26). The crude odds ratio of quitting was 2.3(95% CI: 1.5-3.5). The adjusted odds ratio was 2.1 (95% CI: 1.4-3.4) (adjusted for age, number of years smoked, and alcohol dependency).
Conclusion:
Proactive telephone counselling is an effective aid to promote smoking cessation among parents of young children.