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‘Holding on to hope’: Follow up qualitative findings of a study supporting consumers to quit smoking  

Audio visual • Other resource • Tessa-May Zirnsak

 

Abstract

Author(s)

Tessa-May Zirnsak1, Kristen McCarter2, Melissa L.McKinlay3, Ashleigh Guillaumier2, Nadine Cocks4, Catherine Brasier1, Laura Hayes4, Amanda L. Baker5, Donita E. Baird5, Billie Bonevski6, Ron Borland7,8, David Castle9, Erin Forbes5, Peter J. Kelly10, Catherine Segan8,11, Rohan Swill M. Williams14, Lisa Brophy1,15

Affiliations

  1. Social Work and Social Policy, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
  2. School of Psychological Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
  3. Department of Mental Health, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Fitzroy, Vic, Australia
  4. Research, Advocacy and Policy Development, Mind Australia Limited, Heidelberg, Vic, Australia
  5. School of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
  6. Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine & Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, Australia
  7. Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
  8. Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
  9. Department of Psychiatry, University of Tasmania; and Centre for Mental Health Service Innovation, Hobart, Tasmania
  10. School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
  11. Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
  12. Centre for Health Economics, Monash Business School, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
  13. School of Medicine, IMPACT, Institute for Innovation in Physical and Mental Health and Clinical Translation, Deakin University, Geelong, Vic, Australia
  14. Division of Addiction Psychiatry, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, United States
  15. Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia

Introduction

Consumers of mental health services and other people who have experience of mental health conditions are more likely to smoke and less likely to quit than people without this lived or living experience. Rather than lacking desire to quit, continued smoking is related to factors such as alleviation of feelings of isolation and despair associated with social exclusion and trauma.

Method

The Quitlink study was a randomised controlled trial of a peer researcher facilitated referral to a tailored Quitline plus nicotine replacement therapy for people receiving mental health services. In this presentation, we report on the medium- and longer-term data from interviews conducted at 5- and 8- months after recruitment with the aim of increasing understanding of the barriers and enablers to smoking cessation.

Results & Findings

Six themes were identified from the information participants shared: internal/external attributions for smoking; social relationships and relapse; hopefulness in quitting; the role of clinicians in initiating and maintaining a quit attempt; increasing cessation literacy; and perceived effectiveness of Quitlink.

Discussion

Overall, findings suggested that while participants’ quit attempts were often fragile, direct support and social connection contribute to the capacity to hope for a better future – a future without cigarettes.