Evaluating the effectiveness of a smoking cessation intervention designed for nurses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of offering an individualised approach to smoking cessation to qualified nurses and student nurses in Northern Ireland. Twenty-two qualified nurses and 32 student nurses enrolled in the intervention. A further 23 qualified nurses and 33 student nurses expressed interest in giving up smoking, but did not wish to be included in the intervention. They were assigned to the comparison group. Objective verification utilising salivary cotinine measurements of continuous abstinence at 6 months and 1 year demonstrated that 24% of student and qualified nurses in the intervention groups stopped smoking compared with 7% of those in the comparison groups. Both of these differences are statistically significant (Fisherʹs Exact Probability Test p=<0.05). This suggests that the individualised approach as used in this study is an appropriate method of helping motivated nurses to quit.