Smoking-cessation interviews highlighted personal needs in severe mental illness
Patients and professionals valued group support during a smoking-cessation program. Their interviews explored experiences, barriers and preferences; the abstract does not report whether the program improved quitting rates.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Patients described smoking as a way to cope with distress, psychiatric symptoms and possible medication side effects. Some reported low self-esteem or limited confidence in quitting as barriers. Patients and professionals valued group sessions and personalized planning to prevent a return to smoking. These interview accounts describe support experiences without establishing which elements improved quitting success.
Interviewees were deliberately selected, and this abstract-based account reports themes rather than quitting rates. Being embedded in a randomized trial does not make these interview findings a randomized comparison of treatment effectiveness.
Preparing for a quit attempt
Patients and professionals valued cognitive behavioral therapy exercises. They also regarded personalized strategies for preventing a return to smoking as useful preparation for trying to quit. These were participants' assessments, rather than measured effects on cessation.
Why personal needs mattered
The group setting was welcomed, while the findings indicated a need to accommodate individual preferences. Patients' accounts of smoking to manage symptoms or medication side effects explain their reasons for smoking; they do not verify those effects.
The original publication
Clearing the smoke: experiences of patients and professionals during a one-year smoking cessation intervention in ambulatory mental healthcare - a qualitative study.
Küçükaksu MH, Jansen L, Hoekstra T et al.
Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40713742
- Record checked
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