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Tuesday, October 06, 2009 UNI research shows 20 percent of clients not smoking up to a year after starting program CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The University of Northern Iowa Center for Social and Behavioral Research (CSBR) presented the results of state-funded smoking cessation services to the Iowa Tobacco Commission in Des Moines in late September.
The CSBR evaluated cessation services by interviewing clients three months to a year after they began to receive services. They reviewed program records at site visits and conducted secret shopper calls to assess program delivery.
The CSBR found that up to a year later, 20 percent of clients stopped smoking completely and most had not started to use other tobacco products in place of cigarettes. Nearly all who quit expect to not resume smoking again, although one-fourth believe they will continue to need assistance to stay stopped and many would have liked to received services longer. Among those who did not completely stop smoking, most had significantly reduced their level of smoking as a result of the services.
Since January 2008, free cessation services have been offered by Iowa Department of Public Health through Quitline Iowa and the network of community health centers of the Iowa/Nebraska Primary Care Association. Quitline Iowa offers counseling by phone and two weeks of free nicotine replacement patches, gum or lozenges. The community health clinics offer 12 weeks of free counseling and pharmacotherapy to all Iowa patients. The services are funded in part by Iowa's $1 increase in cigarette taxes.
Approximately 80 percent of participants were satisfied with the programs, and about 95 percent said they would recommend the programs to someone who was trying to quit smoking.
For more information about the study, contact Disa Cornish, program evaluator at the CSBR, at (319) 273-2105 or disa.cornish@uni.edu.
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