Does it matter who you see to help you stop smoking? Short‐term quit rates across specialist stop smoking practitioners in E ngland
Abstract
Aims: A network of S top S moking S ervices has been set up within the N ational H ealth S ervice (NHS) in E ngland. The services deliver a combination of behavioural support and medication. It is important to establish the degree of variability in quit rates attributable to differences between individual practitioners, to gauge the scope for improvement by training and professional support. The aim of the present analysis was to examine how far short‐term quit rates depend on the practitioner delivering the intervention after adjusting for potential confounding variables. Design: Observational study using routinely collected data. Setting: Thirty‐one NHS S top S moking S ervices in E ngland. Participants: Data from 46 237 one‐to‐one treatment episodes (supported quit attempts) delivered by specialist practitioners. Measurements: Three‐level logistic regression models were fitted for carbon monoxide (CO)‐validated short‐term (4‐week) quit rates. Models adjusted for age, gender, exemption from prescription charges, medication and intervention setting for each treatment episode, number of clients for each practitioner and economic deprivation at the level of the S top S moking S ervice. Secondary analyses included (i) the Heaviness‐of‐Smoking Index (HSI) as predictor and (ii) 4‐week quit rates whether or not confirmed by CO. Findings: Differences between individual specialist practitioners explained 7.6% of the variance in CO‐verified quit rates after adjusting for client demographics, intervention characteristics and practitioner and service variables (P < 0.001). HSI had little impact on this figure; in quits not necessarily validated by CO, practitioners explained less variance. Conclusions: Individual stop smoking practitioners appear to differ to a significant degree in effectiveness. It is important to examine what underlies these differences in order to improve selection, training and professional development.
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Large differences have been identified between the quit rates achieved by services in different locations, which may be partly because of the quality of behavioural support delivered by the practitioner who offers it.
“Large differences have now been identified between the quit rates achieved by services in different locations, which may be partly because of the quality of behavioural support delivered by the practitioner who offers it.[26][27][28]”
From Evaluating Long-term Outcomes of NHS Stop Smoking Services (ELONS): a prospective cohort study (2015) · cites this paper as [27]
Increasingly, Stop Smoking Services outsource management of routine data to private companies, most commonly QuitManager.
“Increasingly, however, SSS outsource management of these data to private companies.The most commonly used is QuitManager (North 51, Nottingham, UK).7,27”
From Evaluating Long-term Outcomes of NHS Stop Smoking Services (ELONS): a prospective cohort study (2015) · cites this paper as [27]
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Influential
- Authors
- Brose, L. S., McEwen, A., & West, R.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Cancer Research UK (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Brose, Leonie S.
- Venue
- Addiction
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-07-12
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 2029-2036
- ISSN
- 0965-2140 (ISSN-L)
- 1360-0443
- OpenAlex
- W2122856259
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 3.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Addiction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Pfizer
- Sanofi
- Cancer Research UK (14135)
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
- Keywords
- smoking cessation, Heaviness of Smoking Index, NHS Stop Smoking Services, economic hardship
- MeSH terms
- Smoking Prevention, Behavior Therapy, Carbon Monoxide, Community Health Services, Counseling, England, Female, Humans, Male, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Specialization, Smoking Cessation, Treatment Outcome, Tobacco Use Cessation Devices
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