Smoking Cessation Intervention

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in Ireland with almost 6,000 smokers dying each year from tobacco related diseases (HSE, 2018). The number of smokers in Ireland has decreased by an estimated 80,000 people over the past three years. The prevalence of smoking has dropped from 23% in 2015 to 20% in 2018 (Healthy Ireland Survey, 2018). We have made huge progress towards becoming a ‘tobacco free Ireland by 2025’. However, there is still a lot more work to do. In February 2018, following ongoing consultation with students and staff and extensive work carried out by the Smokeless Campus Committee, Institute of Technology Carlow became a ‘Smokeless Campus’. This presentation relates to the smoking cessation initiative implemented by the Nurse at IT Carlow, in providing on site consultation and support services at the medical centre for students who require help to stop smoking. While the initiative is ongoing and available to all students, this profile provides data on a group of 25 smokers who participated in a smoking cessation programme. It explains the methods used to assist the students to stop smoking and the results obtained over a ten-month period from March to December 2018. The profile also provides quantitative data on brief interventions for smoking cessation (5A’s) carried out with all smokers who attend the student medical Centre.

Author(s): Theresa Lowry Lehnen

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