Supporting smoking cessation in healthcare: obstacles in scientific understanding and tobacco addiction management

Dianne de Korte, Onno C. P. van Schayck, Paul van Spiegel, Ad A. Kaptein, Alfred Sachs, Maureen Rutten-van Mölken, Niels Chavannes, Trudi Tromp-Beelen, Rik Bes, Remi Allard, Gerard Peeters, Leo Kliphuis, Jan Willem Schouten, Lies van Gennip, René van Ommen, Javier Asin

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DOI: 10.4236/health.2010.211189                

Abstract

Despite ongoing efforts to reduce tobacco smoking, the smoking prevalence in many countries has remained stable for years. This may be a consequence of either lack of knowledge about effective ways to reduce smoking, or failing treatment of tobacco addiction in healthcare. This study explored gaps in the current understanding of smoking cessation and the challenges facing tobacco addiction management in order to formulate recommendations for future research and healthcare practice. A narrative review was written to determine areas in which more research is needed as well as areas in which sufficient knowledge is already available. Recommendations for future research were prioritised using a Delphi-procedure. Recommendations for healthcare practice were confirmed by expert’s assessment. Smoking is not widely acknowledged as an addiction and a relatively small number of smokers ask help from a healthcare professional when trying to stop smoking. Most healthcare professionals recognise the importance of advising patients to stop smoking, but experience certain barriers to actually do this. Overall, healthcare professionals need to be convinced that tobacco smoking is an addiction and should be treated likewise. If all healthcare professionals systematically advise their patients to give up smoking, eventually more smokers will successfully stop smoking.

Keywords

Tobacco Addiction; Smoking Cessation; Smoking Cessation Interventions; Healthcare Practice; Tobacco Control

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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