Background: Cigarettes consumption is the most preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries. Several intervention trials have shown that medical counseling to quit smoking promotes 5-10 % of abstinence per year, which constitutes the most efficient preventable activity. This study aims to evaluate the presence and type of medical counseling to quit smoking in patients admitted to a long-stay unit of a psychiatric hospital.
Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study included 80 schizophrenic smoking in-patients. The presence of medical counseling to quit smoking was evaluated by a standardized questionnaire designed for this purpose. The Fagerström Test was used to measure nicotine dependence, the Richmond Questionnaire to measure motivation for smoking cessation and the Stages of Change Questionnaire to know the stage of change to give up smoking.
Results: A total of 60.3 % of the patients had previously received medical counseling to quit smoking, 50 % of which had been performed by the psychiatrist. The motivation for patients with medical counseling was moderate (mean score +/- SD of Richmond Questionnaire 4.4 +/- 3.5). A total of 77.1 % of these patients had tried to quit smoking on several occasions.
Conclusions: Medical counseling on giving up smoking can modify the motivation to quit smoking in psychiatric patients. Systematic structured counseling, especially from psychiatry, can prevent the development of nicotine addiction or modify intensity.