Those who are living with the serious sexual health problem, HIV, are likely to want to safeguard their wellness as much as possible, and one of the ways they can achieve that is to give up smoking. A new study, published in a journal called Clinical Infectious Diseases, shows that when smoking cessation support is delivered by mobile phone, the chances of it being successful are greatly increased. People are more likely to be able to quit smoking, thus improving their wellbeing, when they receive this kind of phone-based support, than people who use traditional methods to help them stop smoking.
The cell phone-based method combines motivational intervention, supportive counselling and materials specifically targeted at those who are living with AIDS. Physician-based advice, on the other hand, generally consists of advice and very generic tip sheets. It is important to note, however, that whilst the phone-based approach had very good success rates in the short term, in the long term, complete quit rates were actually quite low, as the impact of the phone-based approach seemed to diminish over time.
A team of investigators from Texas were concerned about the high rates of smoking amongst those who are living with HIV, particularly because the disease already leaves sufferers vulnerable to other diseases and serious illnesses. For this reason, the study was designed to investigate how effective a mobile-based smoking cessation service would be.
Research was carried out between 2007 and the end of 2009, and it involved 474 smokers who were also HIV positive, and receiving healthcare treatment from the same hospital. All of these smokers consumed five or more cigarettes every day, and their expired carbon monoxide levels were 7ppm or more.
The group was split in half, with half receiving traditional smoking-cessation care and the other half receiving the mobile phone-based service, and the results from the two groups were then compared.
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