Smoking cessation among pregnant women in an urban setting

This paper examines a study of a brief contact smoking cessation program among 57 pregnant women at two urban clinics. All subjects were administered either a specially created videotape or a booklet on the topic of smoking. Subjects were then randomly assigned to receive either a nurse counseling message or to receive their usual care at the clinic. There was no statistically significant difference in smoking status among those who received either type of media or nurse counseling intervention. However, smoking cessation at one month after entry in the study was reported by 12% (N = 7) of subjects, by 18% (N = 10) of subjects in the ninth month of pregnancy, and by 9% (N = 5) of subjects at one month post-partum. Over half of the patients attempted to quit smoking in the first month and 68% (39/57) made at least one quit attempt during the entire study period. Our results suggest that future smoking cessation programs and methods need to consider more intensive nursing interventions and supportive measures to produce lasting changes in smoking prevalence.