Tanja Tomson and colleagues at Karolinska Institutet have developed and tested a support tool for health care professionals whose patients want to quit nicotine. Tomson is an associate professor of Public Health at the Institute.
They developed a concept called "Tobaksavvänjning på Recept" (TOR). This approach offers at least ten minutes of tobacco counseling, a written prescription for tobacco cessation, and follow-up on at least one occasion. The patient is engaged In developing a tailored treatment plan.
The researchers set up a RCT study with 18 primary health care centers in socioeconomically vulnerable areas. They trained the staff at eight of these centers in smoking cessation and TOR. The remaining ten centers formed a control group; they maintained their standard practice. With TOR, 35% of those who wanted to quit remained smoke-free six months after treatment. In the control centers the corresponding figure was 13%. |
