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This paper aims to describe the relationship between functional health literacy level and smoking cessation outcomes.

Participants in an inpatient smoking cessation program in a mid‐western city in the USA were enrolled and the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults was administered while the participant was still admitted. A follow‐up telephone call was made three months after the intervention in order to assess self‐reported smoking cessation.

A total of 30 participants were enrolled. At the three‐month follow‐up, 22 patients were currently smoking and eight had quit smoking. Chi‐square analysis indicated that there was no difference in the incidence of successful smoking cessation based on level of functional health literacy. The results of a stepwise logistic regression analysis suggest that predicting whether a study participant will quit smoking or not appears to be a function of the participant's environment, since the only variable that contributed significantly to the equation was environmental factors.

The results of this study suggest that the participants had a relatively high level of functional health literacy. Participants with all levels of functional health literacy were able to quit smoking, as the incidence of smoking cessation was no different across levels of functional health literacy. A participant's ability to quit smoking did not appear to be a function of their functional health literacy, but instead appeared to be a function of their environment.

Health educators and smoking cessation counselors need to consider all factors that have an impact on people's ability to quit smoking, but environmental factors may deserve additional consideration.

An empirical study investigated the antecedents to perceived usefulness (PU) and its consequences in the context of smoking cessation online health communities (OHCs).

To validate a research model for perceived informational support, perceived emotional support and perceived esteem support, the authors conducted a partial-least-squares analysis of empirical data from an online survey (N = 173) of users of two smoking cessation OHCs. The proposed model articulates these as antecedents to PU from a social support perspective, and knowledge sharing and continuance intention are expressed as consequences of PU.

The empirical study identified that the PU of smoking cessation OHCs is influenced by perceived emotional support and perceived esteem support, and perceived informational support indirectly affects PU via these factors. In turn, PU exerts a positive influence on both knowledge sharing and continuance intention. Also, knowledge sharing positively affects continuance intention.

The study contributes to scholarship on users' postadoption behavior in the context of smoking cessation OHCs by disentangling the antecedents to PU from a social support perspective and pinpointing some important consequences of PU. The research also has practical implications for managing smoking cessation OHCs.

Cigarette smoking remains the primary preventable cause of mortality and morbidity globally. The overarching goal of the paper is to disseminate the Behavioral Activation Treatment for Smoking (BATS), which integrates behavioral activation principles with standard treatment guidelines to assist individuals in achieving short- and long-term smoking cessation. Through a series of sequential steps, BATS guides individuals who wish to quit smoking to increase their engagement in healthy, pleasurable, and value-consistent activities.

The document provides the BATS rationale and contains an abridged manual for use by clinicians and/or researchers in the context of clinical trials. Findings: BATS is accruing empirical evidence that suggests its ability to promote successful smoking cessation outcomes while decreasing any associated depressive symptoms.

BATS is accruing empirical evidence that suggests its ability to promote successful smoking cessation outcomes while decreasing any associated depressive symptoms.

A description of key components, forms, and strategies to address common treatment barriers are included.

BATS’s strong roots in learning theories and its idiographic nature allow for the intervention to be implemented flexibly across a wide range of settings and smoking populations. The treatment may also be combined seamlessly with pharmacotherapies. BATS targets both cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms, which constitute a significant barrier to cessation, through a common pathway: increasing rewarding activities. The treatment offers a parsimonious complement to standard smoking cessation treatments.

The purpose of this paper is to explore a health program comprising the individual experiences, successes and setbacks of adults in an individually tailored, community-based smoking intervention and physical activity program. The program incorporated physical activity consultation (PAC) and phone support from the well-established Quit smoking cessation program, and in partnership with Melton City Council, Victoria, Australia.

Expert facilitators in PAC led the intervention. The program was titled “ActivePlus” and the intervention was conducted for eight weeks. Post-program facilitator guidance continued for three weeks and follow-up on participants was conducted at week 24. Five participants continued to week 24 and were interviewed. Three case descriptions were chosen as a sample to analyse using descriptive content analysis to illustrate the range of experiences, successes and setbacks reported by these individual participants.

Smoking reduction/cessation results varied among cases, but increases in PA were sustained. Participants valued the expert support of PAC facilitators, though usage and appraisal of Quit telephone smoking cessation services was mixed. The individually tailored PAC was valued by participants, who felt it also contributed to their smoking reduction/cessation goals.

In future, the intervention would benefit from the same ongoing support in smoking cessation as the PAC. Practitioners should consider the benefit of including PAC in smoking cessation interventions. However, such interventions should be individually tailored and include facilitation by a PAC and a smoking cessation expert.

Few studies have looked at completely individualised smoking cessation interventions using PAC. The current study also addresses the recommendations of previous research to investigate the use of more intense PA intervention supported by expert PAC facilitation.

People with a history of depression are more likely to smoke and less likely to achieve abstinence from smoking long term. The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors associated with smoking and smoking cessation among patients with depression.

This paper reports on smoking prevalence and cessation in a cohort of 789 primary care attendees with depressive symptoms (Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale score of=16) recruited from 30 randomly selected Primary Care Practices in Victoria, Australia in 2005.

At baseline, 32 per cent of participants smoked. Smokers were more likely to be male, unmarried, receive government benefits, have difficulty managing on available income, have emphysema, a chronic illness, poor self-rated health, to have more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms, to be taking anti-depressants, to be hazardous drinkers, to report suicidal ideation and to have experienced childhood physical or sexual abuse. At 12 months, 20 participants reported quitting. Females and people with good or better self-rated health were significantly more likely to have quit, while people with a chronic illness or suicidal ideation were less likely to quit. Smoking cessation was not associated with increases in depression or anxiety symptoms. Only six participants remained quit over four years.

Rates of smoking were high, and long-term cessation was low among primary care patients with depressive symptoms. Primary care physicians should provide additional monitoring and support to assist smokers with depression quit and remain quit.

This is the first naturalistic study of smoking patterns among primary care attendees with depressive symptoms.

Although knowledge sharing in online communities has been studied for many years, little is known about the determinants for individuals' knowledge sharing in online health communities (OHCs) surrounding smoking cessation. Examining the determinants of knowledge sharing in such OHCs from the social capital perspective may prove particularly enlightening.

A questionnaire-based online user survey of two smoking cessation OHCs, one based in Finland and one based in China, was performed. Performing data analysis with partial least squares (SmartPLS 3.0), the authors developed a model conceptualizing the structural, cognitive and relational dimensions of social capital as drivers for knowledge sharing in smoking cessation OHCs, with users' stage in giving up smoking as a moderator.

The results show that structural capital (social ties) and relational capital (reciprocity) are important motivators behind knowledge sharing in smoking cessation OHCs, and the authors found a moderating effect of the stage in quitting on the antecedents' relationship with knowledge sharing in these OHCs.

The study enriches understanding of knowledge sharing in smoking cessation OHCs, contributing to theory and identifying practical implications for such groups' administration.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the outcome of a smoking cessation program based on the protection motivation theory and a brief intervention among Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) officers, with non-communicable disease (NCD) risks.

This quasi-experimental study involved sixty RTAF officers, with NCD risks. The first 30 participants were assigned to a control group and the latter 30 to an experimental group. The control group received brief advice on quitting smoking while the experimental group took part in an eight-week motivational program. The primary outcome was biochemically verified seven-day point prevalence abstinence from smoking. A measurement of carbon monoxide (CO)<8 ppm in exhaled breath was considered indicative of abstinence.

Most participants were non-commissioned officers, with an age range of 21–59 years and a mean age of 38.27 years (SD=10.59). No significant difference in the Fagerström test for nicotine dependence scores between control and experimental groups was observed. The proportion of the participants reporting the seven-day point prevalence abstinence verified by exhaled CO was significantly higher in the experiment group than in the control group (20.0 percent vs 3.3 percent; p<0.05). Numbers of cigarettes per day decreased from 12.87±7.23 and 10.53 ± 7.45 at the baseline to 7.23 ± 5.90 and 8.83 ± 6.13 at the end of study in experimental and control group, respectively.

This motivation-based program to quit smoking had a promising outcome in terms of smoking abstinence and smoking reduction.

The purpose of this paper is to test the effectiveness of a computer‐tailored smoking cessation intervention, distributed through 75 Dutch general practices (GP) and 65 pharmacies (PH) in a randomised control trial.

Respondents receive a tailored letter or a thank you letter (control condition). Main outcome measures are a quit attempt, seven‐day abstinence and continued abstinence at follow‐up (PH: three and 12 months, GP: six months). Effect of use and appreciation of the tailored letter are also tested.

In total, 1,019 smokers are recruited (545 in PH study, 474 in GP study). At 12‐month follow‐up (PH), respondents receiving the tailored letter report quit attempts significantly more often. No main effects are found in the GP sample. However, reading the tailored letter more than once (GP) and talking with others about the tailored letter (PH) are borderline significant predictors of quitting and point prevalence abstinence.

Positive effects of the intervention in a previous efficacy study are not repeated. The possible influence of power, social desirability and testing effect, extraneous events, the availability of the intervention outside the study and data entry issues are presented.

Possible explanations for the results found in the study and improvements of the intervention are discussed. This can guide researchers in future smoking cessation intervention development and testing.

The paper aims to replicate findings from a previously conducted efficacy study under real‐life circumstances.

Presents findings from the pilot study of a gender‐sensitive adolescent smoking cessation programme called Not On Tobacco (N‐O‐T). N‐O‐T is a school‐based programme designed to help teenagers stop smoking or reduce cigarette use among those who are unable to quit completely. A total of 29 adolescents from three high schools in West Virginia participated (19 females and 10 males ranging between 14 and 18 years old). Smoking abstinence was measured using self‐report and was verified by exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) readings. At three months post baseline, total abstinence for programme participants was 22 per cent and reduction rates ranged from 30 per cent to 96 per cent. At four months post‐baseline, 44 per cent of the boys and 14 per cent of the girls reported being smoke free. Findings from this pilot study suggest that N‐O‐T warrants further investigation and redesign with emphasis on more highly prescribed, gender‐sensitive intervention strategies. Consequently, a completely new programme has been developed and is currently being evaluated.

This paper aims to explore smokefree prison policy, from the perspective of people in custody in Scotland.

In total, 77 people in custody in Scotland were interviewed in the period leading up to implementation of a nationwide prison smokefree policy. Data were thematically analysed to identify the diversity of views and experiences.

Participants described a widespread awareness in prisons of plans to implement a smokefree policy from 30 November 2018. Opinions about smokefree prisons varied among participants based on perceptions of the fairness, and anticipated positive and negative consequences of removing tobacco from prisons. At the time of the interviews, people in custody were responding to the impending smokefree policy, either by proactively preparing for the smokefree rule change or by deploying avoidance strategies. Participants described opportunities and challenges for implementing smokefree policy in prisons across three main themes: the role of smoking in prison, prison smoking cessation services and motivations for quitting smoking among people in custody.

This study exploring smokefree prisons from the perspectives of people in custody has several novel features which extend the evidence base. The findings highlight measures for jurisdictions to consider when planning to prohibit smoking in their prisons in the future. These include the need for evidence-based smoking cessation support in advance of smokefree policy, effective communication campaigns, consideration of broader structural determinants of health in prison and ongoing measures to reduce rates of return to smoking post release.