Abstract
Smoking during pregnancy is a global health problem which has devastating health implications. Behavioural support is an important part of smoking cessation support for pregnant women. Research has identified barriers and facilitators (B&Fs) and effective behaviour change techniques (BCTs) to aid women’s quit attempts. However, the extent to which and how these BCTs are used in practice is unclear. The research aimed to establish experts’ views on how behavioural support can be optimised and techniques operationalised in clinical practice, by identifying ways to address known B&Fs for smoking cessation in pregnancy. A focus group discussion took place with six experts, which highlighted how BCTs can be used in practice to support women in their quit attempts. A thematic analysis was conducted to elicit overarching themes. Five themes were found: involving the family, empowering women, using incentives to boost motivation, using practical techniques to help women with their quit attempts and managing expectations about nicotine replacement therapy. Empowering women to make their own decisions and encouraging small positive changes in smoking habits, using visual aids (e.g., growth charts) to inform women of the harms of smoking to the baby and treating families holistically were deemed important.
Highlights
The impact of smoking during pregnancy is an important health issue worldwide; it can be highly detrimental for both the mother and the baby
The participants had experience working across smoking cessation settings and antenatal settings, including antenatal clinics, community midwifery and working as smoking cessation advisors in primary and secondary care and community venues
Practical techniques that aided quit attempts were identified by experts; these included visual teaching aids with clear explanations, which mainly helped women in understanding the harms of smoking, helping women to identify effective coping strategies to deal with negative emotions, and substitute behaviours
Summary
The impact of smoking during pregnancy is an important health issue worldwide; it can be highly detrimental for both the mother and the baby. This is associated with a higher risk of them developing cardiovascular diseases and becoming smokers themselves [3,4]. It was reported that in the UK, 54% of women who are smokers try to quit at some point during the course of their pregnancy [5]. The most recent statistics for 2020/21 show that 9.8% of women were smoking at the time of their delivery in the UK [6]; this is higher than the national target stipulated by the Tobacco
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