Abstract:

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of family support methods for smoking cessation. Methods A prospective intervention study design was used, 80 outpatients of smoking cessation clinics who met the inclusion criteria were selected, and each patient was evaluated with a standard baseline questionnaire at the first consultation, and followed up 1, 3, and 6 months after the first consultation. Trained physicians provided face-to-face psychological intervention and smoking cessation counselling for each patient. The patients were divided into control group (43 patients) and family support group (37 patients) according to whether their family members were accompanied at the first consultation. The control group was only given psychological intervention, and the family support group was given support and supervision for smoking cessation in the family on the basis of psychological intervention. The differences of the smoking cessation rates at the 7 days treatment, the relapse rates of patients who had quit smoking, and the degree of nicotine dependence at the end of the intervention of between the two groups were compared. Results At 1, 3, and 6 months of follow-up, the 7-day point prevalence on abstinence rate in the family support group (83.3% (30/36), 68.6% (24/35) and 48.6% (17/35)) were significantly higher than those in the control group (58.5% (24/41), 37.5% (15/40) and 17.5% (7/40)) (χ²=5.627, P=0.018; χ ²=8.142, P=0.017; χ ²=10.174, P=0.006). At the 3-month follow-up, the relapse rate in the family support group (20.0% (6/30)) was lower than that in the control group (37.5% (9/24)) without significant difference (χ ²=2.035, P=0.154). At the 6-month follow-up, the relapse rate in the family support group was significantly lower than that in the control group (43.3% (13/30) vs 70.8% (17/24), χ ²=4.084, P=0.043). At the end of the intervention, patients with severe nicotine dependence scores had significantly fewer in the family support group than controls (28.6% (10/35) vs 52.5% (21/40), χ ²=4.408, P=0.036). Conclusion In smoking cessation interventions, the use of family support methods can effectively increase the rate of quitting, reduce the rate of relapses, and have a positive effect on reducing smoking dependence among non-quitting smokers.

Key words: Smoking cessation, Family support, Effect evaluation, Follow-up study