Abstract
BackgroundThe use of spirometry for early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is still an issue of debate, particularly because of a lack of convincing evidence that spirometry has an added positive effect on smoking cessation. We hypothesise that early detection of COPD and confrontation with spirometry for smoking cessation may be effective when applying an approach we have termed "confrontational counselling"; a patient-centred approach which involves specific communication skills and elements of cognitive therapy. An important aspect is to confront the smoker with his/her airflow limitation during the counselling sessions. The primary objective of this study is to test the efficacy of confrontational counselling in comparison to regular health education and promotion for smoking cessation delivered by specialized respiratory nurses in current smokers with previously undiagnosed mild to moderate airflow limitation.Methods/DesignThe study design is a randomized controlled trial comparing confrontational counselling delivered by a respiratory nurse combined with nortriptyline for smoking cessation (experimental group), health education and promotion delivered by a respiratory nurse combined with nortriptyline for smoking cessation (control group 1), and "care as usual" delivered by the GP (control group 2). Early detection of smokers with mild to moderate airflow limitation is achieved by means of a telephone interview in combination with spirometry. Due to a comparable baseline risk of airflow limitation and motivation to quit smoking, and because of the standardization of number, duration, and scheduling of counselling sessions between the experimental group and control group 1, the study enables to assess the "net" effect of confrontational counselling. The study has been ethically approved and registered.DiscussionEthical as well as methodological considerations of the study are discussed in this protocol. A significant and relevant effect of confrontational counselling would provide an argument in favour of early detection of current smokers with airflow limitation. Successful treatment of tobacco dependence in respiratory patients requires repeated intensive interventions. The results of this study may also show that respiratory nurses are able to deliver this treatment and that intensive smoking cessation counselling is more feasible.Trial registration:Netherlands Trial Register (ISRCTN 64481813).
Highlights
The use of spirometry for early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is still an issue of debate, because of a lack of convincing evidence that spirometry has an added positive effect on smoking cessation
Study design In short, the design of this study is a randomized controlled trial comparing confrontational counselling delivered by a respiratory nurse (RN) combined with nortriptyline for smoking cessation, health education and promotion delivered by a RN combined with nortriptyline for smoking cessation, and
We presented the protocol of a study assessing the efficacy of confrontational counselling for smoking cessation in current smokers with not earlier diagnosed mild to moderate airflow limitation (i.e. GOLD stage 1 and 2 COPD)
Summary
The use of spirometry for early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is still an issue of debate, because of a lack of convincing evidence that spirometry has an added positive effect on smoking cessation. We hypothesise that early detection of COPD and confrontation with spirometry for smoking cessation may be effective when applying an approach we have termed "confrontational counselling"; a patient-centred approach which involves specific communication skills and elements of cognitive therapy. The primary objective of this study is to test the efficacy of confrontational counselling in comparison to regular health education and promotion for smoking cessation delivered by specialized respiratory nurses in current smokers with previously undiagnosed mild to moderate airflow limitation. The most important counterargument is that there is no convincing evidence that spirometry has an added positive effect on smoking cessation [11,12,13]
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