Smoking cessation program in outpatient clinics of Family Medicine Department in Taiwan: a longitudinal evaluation

Eval Health Prof. 2010 Mar;33(1):12-25. doi: 10.1177/0163278709356185.

Abstract

The Government of Taiwan has imposed a tobacco health tax of NT$5 (US$0.14) per pack of cigarettes since January 2002. The Department of Health has now begun to fund a smoking cessation program that provides nicotine-replacement therapy (NRT) and brief counseling by physicians in outpatient clinics. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the smoking cessation program with a 3-year follow-up review implemented at outpatient clinics, which were run by the Family Medicine Department in a medical center, with a total of 772 adult participants. The abstinence rates were 99.7%, 49.2%, 37.7%, 30.2%, and 22.7%, at the 1-, 3-, 6-, 12-, and 36-month points, respectively. The frequency of clinic visits is a major factor predicting long-term cessation. The results indicate the need to pursue implementation and evaluation of multidisciplinary interventions in smoking cessation clinics with a longer follow-up, including the promotion of compliance to increase clinic visits and prevent relapse.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Confidence Intervals
  • Directive Counseling
  • Family Practice / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Health Status Indicators
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Outpatients / statistics & numerical data
  • Program Evaluation / statistics & numerical data*
  • Smoking / epidemiology
  • Smoking / therapy
  • Smoking Cessation / methods*
  • Smoking Cessation / statistics & numerical data
  • Smoking Prevention*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Taiwan / epidemiology
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Young Adult