Browsing by Subject "individually tailored smoking cessation service"

Individually tailored smoking cessation, SC, service provided by community pharmacies is a chargeable special service for customers motivated to quit smoking. The service is based on the PAS service model developed in Great Britain and it has been provided by Finnish community pharmacies since 2006. It includes 4-6 meetings with a specially trained pharmacist, who provides counselling, support, SC plan and follow-up. In this pilot study, the service was investigated from customers' viewpoint, assessing their SC outcomes and experiences. The pilot study was a cooperation project of Division of Social Pharmacy and Association of Finnish Pharmacies. It was a part of a larger SC project co-ordinated by Pulmonary Association Heli and financed by Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. This pilot study assessed the feasibility of the service from customer's viewpoint. It assessed weather the service could increase customers' ability to stay abstinent in different phases of the service. Customers' experiences in relation to SC service and SC itself were also assessed. 14 voluntary pharmacies in different geographical locations in Finland participated in this intervention study and they recruited altogether 36 customers. Before customer recruitment pharmacies received education and introduction of the SC service provided by the Association of Finnish Pharmacies. As part of study protocol, the pharmacies informed local healthcare professionals about the pilot study and asked them to send suitable customers to the service. Pharmacies were paid an expert reward for each customer and they were able to provide SC service to the customers either free or with a low charge. Customers' smoking status and experiences about SC service were assessed with two enquiry forms, which they had filled at the beginning of the service and after three months they had started the service. Their background information was collected with specific background forms during the first meeting and their progress in SC service was investigated by service progress forms. 20 of the 28 customers who returned the first enquiry form and 13 of the 17 customers who returned the second enquiry form were abstinent (55,6 % and 36,1 % of all customers, respectively). All the quitters used some pharmaceutical treatment. Customers who quitted assessed their ability to stay abstinent higher than those who were unable to quit, at the outset and during the service. The customers considered service useful and support of the pharmacist was found important. The customers also considered it significant for pharmacies to provide the SC service. Approximately 32 % of the customers who returned the first enquiry form and 41 % who returned the second enquiry form would pay for the service. They would pay 45 € on average (10-100 €). Multidisciplinary service model was not working as expected, since only a small number of customers were recruited by other healthcare professionals. As a result some of the pharmacies recruited customers also from the pharmacy counter without any contact to other healthcare. 36 % of the 36 customers were abstinent at three months. The control group, planned for the pilot study, failed in recruitment and thus we can only compare our findings to other international studies of the SC service, which have provided similar results. Individually tailored SC service provided by pharmacies is suitable SC support for motivated customers. Customers considered service important and useful, but poor willingness to pay creates challenges for pharmacies to provide this kind of service.