Development of Community Smoking Cessation Services for Chronically Ill Patients Who Smoke, Ban Po ngern Sub-district Health Promotion Hospital, Nong Hong District, Buriram Province

Abstract

This study was to develop a model to provide smoking cessation services in patients with chronic smoking to increase smoking cessation rate and to measure the level of satisfaction of patients receiving smoking cessation services in the community. It was designed as a prospective intervention research from October 2013 - June 2014. The study samples were all 15 patients with chronic diseases who were smokers identified from a community survey. All cases were unable to quit smoking by the routine services at the sub-district health promotion hospital. The process of routine smoking cessation counselling was also assessed. Based on the current study, a community-based smoking cessation model was developed to include participation of the chronic patients and their family in the process; as well as a guidance to encourage family members to take part in motivation and provision of care for the patients. A herbal infusion tea from little ironweed (Ya Dok Khao) was provided for nicotine addition treatment, together with the promotion of the herbal weed plantation. The patients were followed-up by home visits on a regular basis, at 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 momths and 6 months. Effectiveness of the model was measured by the number and percentage of patients who quit smoking. An evaluation form was ued to assess the satisfaction of the services. It was found that 66.7% (10 cases) of the patients were able to quit smoking; and all the patients (100.0%) were satisfied with the services. Therefore, the model was found to be effective in the treatment of nicotine dependence; and thus increasing smoking cessation rate in the com munity. Scaling-up of the model was recommended by the authors.