Tobacco quitlines: looking back and looking ahead: Figure 1

Abstract

Telephone based tobacco cessation services, or quitlines, have become central components of many comprehensive tobacco control programmes. This paper provides an overview of their history, noting milestones in the growth of quitlines. Key factors in their worldwide adoption were solid evidence from clinical trials with large community samples and strong backing from public health officials. Quitlines are now available throughout most of North America, Europe, Australia and in many other locations around the world. The paper also offers several recommendations for future directions in quitline practice and research. Benchmarks should be established for key areas of quitline implementation, such as accessibility, quality and cost efficiency. Advances in pharmacotherapy, telephony and web based applications should be investigated for opportunities to expand service offerings. Research and development are needed to determine how best to serve a diverse clientele in the most cost effective manner. Funding should be expanded and diversified to enable quitlines to serve much larger numbers of users. Healthcare providers should be targeted for quitline promotion, to engage them in a broad effort to increase the number of patients receiving cessation messages from clinicians. The goal of quitline promotion should expand to include an increase in unaided quit attempts in the population. Early research findings were quickly adopted in quitline practice, and future research to answer questions that have arisen through the implementation of quitlines will probably also find quick adoption.

Confronting a Neglected Epidemic: Tobacco Cessation for Persons with Mental Illnesses and Substance Abuse Problems

“…Over 400,000 U.S. tobacco users contact quitlines each year, (24) the efficacy of which have been rigorously demonstrated for the general population (2,113,135). After the initial contact, quitline counselors may offer on-the-spot service or subsequently make proactive calls to help smokers prepare to quit, prevent relapse, and in some instances dispense medications (2,32).…”

Clinician-delivered Intervention to Facilitate Tobacco Quitline Use by Surgical Patients

“…6 This has prompted increased interest in using telephone quitlines, now available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, to provide assistance and follow-up to smokers attempting to quit. 7 Some have recommended that rather than trying to provide all elements of the 5As themselves, clinicians should ask their patients about tobacco use, advise them to quit, and refer them to a telephone quitline. 8 Conceptually, this approach has the potential advantages of being easier to implement by clinicians compared with the full 5As approach (because it does not require them to provide specialized assistance and follow-up) and of improving the reach of existing quitlines, which are of proven efficacy.…”

A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial of a Behavioral Exercise Intervention for Smoking Cessation

“…The counseling was similar to that typically provided by tobacco quitlines, which have been available in every U.S. state since 2004 and are also prevalent worldwide (Anderson & Zhu, 2007). Receipt of multiple sessions of proactive telephone counseling for smokers who initiate contact with a quitline has demonstrated efficacy (Fiore et al, 2008;Stead, Perera, & Lancaster, 2007).…”