An analysis of a Commitment Contract for Smoking Cessation (CARES)

The fifth participants Jester, 41 and from London, suffers from asthma and COPD and smoked between 15-20 cigarettes a day. Since completing the study, Jester has felt drastic improvements to his health. Vaping has helped him quit smoking the most and he is currently between 4-0mg of nicotine and continuing to quit altogether. Here's what he has to say: It has been a great wake up call to see how easy it was to quit the habit of over 30 years. I must admit I did not hold out too much faith in vaping at first, but over the last few days with the help of this kit I have managed to pretty much all stop smoking.

This 2013 study by Bullen, Williman, Howe, Laugesen, McRobbie, Parag, and Walker compares electronic cigarettes versus nicotine patches for smoking cessation. On the negative side, the methods for recruitment included newspaper ads and television program. These approaches may create a sampling bias because sampling only people with access to newspapers and television may not proportionately represent the population. Another concern is the limitation to only one brand of electronic cigarette and one level of nicotine in the patches. If the group included a wider variety of brands and nicotine levels the outcomes may vary. Another key point is all of the participants were offered behavioral support, but the use of the support was not included

Quitting cigarettes isn’t difficult as it seems. Our program provides an easy way to quit smoking. It doesn’t matter how long you have been smoking, we can fix you.

Quitting rates of participants who are unwilling to stop smoking at all using electronic cigarettes shows how much of an effective cessation method they are. For nicotine replacement therapy to work, smokers would have to volunteer to quit and seek help, while with electronic cigarettes cessation just happens.

These programs usually start with a baseline assessment to give the participant a target goal and amount of time expected for the intervention. Usually these intervention last for 12 weeks and are separated into three stages (pre intentional, intentional, action), which is based on the status and intent to quit smoking:

Of the roughly 42 million adults in the US that use tobacco, nearly 69% of smokers want to quit and more than 42% of those wishing to quit will make the attempt through various methods(1). These methods range from the "cold turkey" method, nicotine replacement therapy, behavioural therapy and even medicine. Each method has it's unique strengths and weaknesses as well as varying success rates. There are many reasons to quit and many ways in which to do so, either with methods that involve slowly weaning off of nicotine, like gums and patches from replacement therapy, to nicotine-free methods which require support from various sources.

Pharmacists are health care professionals that work in their communities to raise the quality of life for the patients they serve. Pharmacists have been working at Consumer Values Stores (CVS) since their first doors opened in 1963. The company has since largely expanded and has become the second largest retail-pharmacy chain in the United States with more than 8,000 store nationwide. CVS is a billion dollar company and has since changed its corporate name to CVS Health along with becoming a leader in corporate social responsibility. The chain is going to great lengths to improve public health all over the country by doing such things as ceasing the sale of cigarettes in its stores and starting a nation-wide smoking cessation program called “We’re Tobacco Free”. CVS has also partnered with MinuteClinic to operate inside some of its stores.

Without a smoking cessation program, only four to seven percent of those attempting to quit will succeed. With the aid of a smoking cessation program, the results may increase. (Leif Associates, Inc.)

Unfortunately, clinical trials do not mimic the real world. The first problem with the trial is that it was too short. Other than this, the clinical trial failed to mimic real-life social situations. People in the real world spend time with friends, go to work and have families. You have to test nicotine patches in these situations, or you will never know if they work.

Smoking is still a pressing issue for Americans, despite efforts to regulate and lessen tobacco use. One in every five Americans still regularly smokes a cigarette, and those who attempt to quit aren’t utilizing all the assistance resources available to them. With these treatments being more prominent now than ever before, there is evidence that supports the effects of a quitter using aid compared to one who does not. Providing brief interventions about tobacco cessation may encourage more quit attempts and use of appropriate treatments, such as a quit-lines or medication. Despite many efforts, healthcare providers are still failing to provide brief interventions to patients, which therefore exposes flaws in a healthcare-based strategy to drive

There have not been any new medications for help with smoking cessation within the last ten to twelve years and e-cig activists ask, why not e-cigarettes? These advocates believe e-cigarettes can be incorporated into a smoking plan that works and will save thousands of lives (The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association). E-cigarette companies maintain that their goal is to help

Goals of therapy: Is to eliminate nicotine cravings and desire to smoke in 10 weeks.

The Tips campaign began in March 2012 as the first paid national tobacco education campaign sponsored and funded by a federal agency to inform the public on the damaging consequences of smoking and encouraging quitting. This campaign has continued through 2016, focusing on various health issues caused or worsened by smoking or exposure to second hand smoke, such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, gum disease, and mental health disorders. “The American Journal of Preventative Medicine” published an analysis of the cost-effectiveness of the 2012 Tips campaign, showing that it prevented more than 17,000 early mortalities and facilitated about 179,000 years of healthy life .

The initial phase of the self-directed intervention consisted of baseline measurement of smoking behaviour. Baseline data was collected for a period of 7 weeks and a functional assessment was completed during this time. Upon starting the intervention phase, the final target behaviour of smoking cessation was broken down into smaller, short-term objectives lasting 2 weeks each.

Nicotine use is a leading preventable cause of death in the world, directly and indirectly responsible for 440,000 deaths per year. The health problems that result in tobacco use tally an annual of $75 billion in direct medical costs (Slovic 36). That money spent on medical problems for smokers should be used to pay for more important things in our society such as schools, libraries, childcare, etc.