Abstract

People with severe mental illness (SMI) typically die 20 years earlier than the general population, largely due to smoking related diseases. Their smoking rate is alarmingly high and persistent, which contrasts sharply with the steady decline in the general population’s smoking rate. Smokers with SMI are equally motivated to quit smoking, but report less encouragement to quit by health professionals and are less able to succeed. When engaged in a program, some can quit successfully, but at lower rates than for the general population. Evidence-based smoking cessation interventions, such as quit lines, are underutilised by smokers with SMI. There is an urgent need to develop highly accessible, appropriately tailored cessation services for smokers with SMI to which mental health services can routinely refer smokers, and to explore why low smoking cessation rates persist among people with SMI receiving cessation treatment.

Quitlink, a research project led by the University of Newcastle will utilise peer workers to identify, support, and refer smokers with SMI in mental health services to Quitline, who will deliver a tailored, proactive and accessible smoking cessation intervention. We believe that the involvement of a peer researcher with lived experience of service usage, smoking and recovery, will enhance people’s interest in the study and their willingness to participate. We are already seeing this evidenced in the work to date. Additionally, we wish to investigate participant and health worker perceptions of the support provided by Quitlink, the nature of barriers encountered and their impact on initiating and succeeding with cessation.