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Can a free nicotine replacement therapy ‘patch’ encourage people to quit smoking?
Author(s) -
Mark Andy
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
health promotion journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 2201-1617
pISSN - 1036-1073
DOI - 10.1071/he03175
Subject(s) - nicotine replacement therapy , nicotine patch , quit smoking , medicine , pharmacy , family medicine , smoking cessation , promotion (chess) , nicotine , alternative medicine , psychiatry , pathology , politics , political science , law , placebo
Issue addressed To determine whether the offer of a free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) patch encourages people to make a quit attempt. Methods Eleven pharmacies in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven (New South Wales) dispensed a free NRT patch to a total of 197 self‐selected individuals in 2002. Pharmacists encouraged participants to continue to purchase NRT, with the eighth week of NRT to be provided free as an incentive. Each pharmacist completed participant record forms that indicated the number of weeks that NRT was purchased and whether participants would like further information. Telephone surveys were conducted with those participants requesting further information, with 77 participants completing the survey. The survey asked about their readiness to quit one week prior to accepting the patch, whether the offer of a patch was a prompt to quit and the likelihood of using NRT in future quit attempts. Results 66% of participants surveyed agreed that the free patch made them seriously consider quitting smoking. 76% indicated that they would use NRT patches again. All participating pharmacists indicated they would participate in future free patch projects. Conclusions Offering a free patch to smokers through pharmacies appears to be an effective prompt for smokers to make a quit attempt and indicates intention to use NRT in future quit attempts.