Smoking and Cessation Behaviors Among Adults with Behavioral Health Issues

Audience: Anyone with an interest in tobacco cessation programs.

Key Points: Adults with behavioral health issues including drug, alcohol and/or mental health problems have disproportionately high rates of tobacco use. Despite the serious health effects of tobacco use, smoking cessation is often not considered a priority in behavioral health treatment. Research findings demonstrate that, contrary to some beliefs, adults with behavioral health issues who smoke are motivated to quit smoking and are even more willing than other smokers to seek assistance to quit.

Educational Experience: I will present research that examines tobacco use in populations with behavioral health concerns in a large metropolitan area, focusing on their attempts to quit smoking and methods used, both in successful and unsuccessful quit attempts. The data are from the 2010 PHMC Household Health Survey, a biennial telephone survey of 10,000 households in Philadelphia and four suburban counties. The survey includes questions about recovery from alcohol or other drug problems, as well as diagnosed mental health conditions. Respondents with mental health conditions and those in recovery are more likely to smoke cigarettes (two and three times respectively) compared with those not reporting behavioral health issues. Moreover, respondents with behavioral health issues are more likely than other smokers to have made a quit attempt in the past year and individuals in recovery are twice as likely as other smokers to have used nicotine replacement therapy in quit attempts.

Benefits: This presentation will provide the audience with data to support the development of tobacco cessation programs targeted to adults with behavioral health issues.