Don’t be a fool, stay in school…it might help you quit smoking.
Education level affects smokers' responses to TV ads that promote smoking cessation, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin. Researchers surveyed 452 adult smokers of different socioeconomic and educational levels and found better-educated smokers are more likely to respond to TV ads that encourage them to quit. However, they found the effect of messages about secondhand smoke is the same across educational levels. You can read the full results
here.
So what does this all mean? Well it means health care professionals and smoking cessation campaigns need to make sure their approaches are varied. The experts I interviewed for my
industry report about smoking cessation in the April issue all stressed the need for varied educational resources and interventions.
While an ad on TV may not be enough to get some smokers motivated, an encouraging word during oxygen treatment may work. Or maybe while they're getting settled into their rooms, a little conversation about why they've been putting it off could be the nudge they need. The extra step you take may make the difference.
If you'd like to try some new approaches to smoking cessation with your patients but you find yourself stumped, you can check out some of the resources I listed in the article. You could get a conversation going with other respiratory professionals by joining the AARC's Tobacco-free Lifestyle Roundtable at
http://www.aarc.org/community/tobacco_free_roundtable/index.asp. Or share some of your own ideas in the comment section below.