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Characteristics and service use of NSW Quitline callers with and without mental health conditions

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posted on 2025-05-10, 20:11 authored by Simone LodgeSimone Lodge, Kate BartlemKate Bartlem, Lauren Gibson, Caitlin FehilyCaitlin Fehily, Tegan BradleyTegan Bradley, Emma McKeonEmma McKeon, Kate Reakes, Sandra Rickards, Phillipa Hastings, Jennifer BowmanJennifer Bowman
Introduction: Smoking rates remain higher for people with a mental health condition compared to the general population and contribute to greater chronic disease burden and premature mortality. Quitline services offer telephone-based smoking cessation support to the public and have been shown to be effective. There is limited research exploring the characteristics of smokers with a mental health condition who use the Quitline or the impacts of using the service on their smoking behaviors. Methods: This observational study aimed to compare demographic and smoking related characteristics, service use and quit attempts of callers to the New South Wales Quitline (2016–2018) with and without a mental health condition (N = 4,219). Results: At baseline, 40% of callers reported a current mental health condition. Desire to quit smoking was similar for both groups, however participants with a mental health condition had higher nicotine dependency and had made more quit attempts prior to engaging with the service. During program enrolment, quit attempts and 24 hours smoke free periods were similar, however participants with a mental health condition engaged in a greater number of calls and over a longer period with Quitline compared to those without. Discussion: The findings suggest Quitline efficacy for people with a mental health condition in making a quit attempt for at least 24 h. Increasing the use of Quitline services and understanding service use for this critical group of smokers will increase the likelihood that their quit attempts are transformed into sustained periods of smoking abstinence. Future research should explore whether tailoring of Quitline service provision for people with mental health conditions may increase the likelihood of quit success.

Funding

NHMRC

1142272

History

Journal title

Frontiers in Psychiatry

Volume

13

Article number

868084

Publisher

Frontiers Research Foundation

Language

  • en, English

College/Research Centre

College of Engineering, Science and Environment

School

School of Psychological Sciences

Rights statement

© 2022 Lodge, Bartlem, Gibson, Fehily, Bradley, McKeon, Reakes, Rickards, Hastings and Bowman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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