Joanna Briggs Collaboration Aged Care Fellowship Project: implementing a smoking cessation program in a young, frail...

Background  The subject site (Ian George Court) caters for clients from a socially disadvantaged background. All clients have been homeless or at risk of homelessness and have a history of alcohol and substance abuse often linked to mental health issues. This project was developed to examine if the site provided best practice in the promotion of smoking cessation. Objectives  The first objective of this project was to improve client knowledge to make informed choice about smoking cessation, ensuring that client advice was given in line with best available evidence and assist the client in accessing community programs. The second objective was to fully review the current assessment tool used in relation to gathering baseline data about smoking habits and act on the information provided. Search strategy  The search strategy sought to find published studies and papers. An initial limited search of MEDLINE and CINAHL was undertaken followed by an analysis of the text words contained in the title and abstract. A second extensive search was then undertaken using all identified keywords. Conclusion  A smoking assessment tool was developed and is now in use across all Anglicare sites in South Australia. This provides staff with consistent baseline information and offers evidence-based health care in a package format to aid clients in smoking cessation.