Tools- of Changes

Effectiveness of Peer-Support Interventions for Smoking Cessation: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Peer-support interventions increased smoking abstinence. However, there remains a lack of consensus about how to define a peer. Efficacy varies with key intervention features such as peer smoking status and follow-up timepoint. Although the absence of evidence of publication bias and opposing plausible residual bias enhance the certainty of evidence, the findings should be interpreted cautiously given the overall 'very low' certainty of evidence.  Based on a systematic review and meta-analysis. 

The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis show an overall modest effect of peer-support interventions for smoking cessation. Trials that employed peers who were former smokers or of unknown smoking status performed better than those using peers who currently smoked, whereas results for 'non-smoking' peers were inconclusive. Current smokers were possibly counterproductive, although the results were too imprecise to be conclusive. Irrespective of peer smoking status, the positive effects of peer support were sustained for all lengths of follow-up greater than 6 months.