Smoking control: The effectiveness of a stop-smoking programme in a Community Health Centre setting

Abstract

Abstract Persons, under 40 years of age, who indicated, at the Busselton Population Survey, that they smoked 15 or more cigarettes per day, were invited to participate in a stop-smoking programme involving rapid smoking. Fourteen persons (8 men and 6 women), all of whom met specified health criteria, completed the programme. All underwent seven rapid smoking sessions which were carried out in groups of two to three subjects. Eight subjects were instructed to remain abstinent between sessions while six were permitted to smoke but instructed to do so rapidly. The instructions to refrain from smoking between sessions produced a significantly greater number of subjects being abstinent at the end of treatment and 1 month following the programme. The difference between the groups was no longer significant at 3 months. Overall, only three subjects, all from the group told to abstain between sessions, were not smoking 3 months after treatment. The remaining subjects were smoking, on average, 58.3% of their base-r...