Engaging Low-Income Smokers in Tobacco Cessation via Credit Counseling Programs

Audience: Large disparities in smoking prevalence by socioeconomic status persist, with the highest rates of smoking among adults with the least income and formal education. JSI Research & Training Institute collaborated with employment readiness and credit counseling programs in New England to engage smokers with evidence-based cessation resources. Key Points: This demonstration project seeks to connect low-income smokers with quitline services through non-traditional channels, and increase motivation to quit by highlighting the financial impact of tobacco use. Educational Experience: JSI trained employment and financial counselors to identify clients who smoke, provide brief advice to quit emphasizing the financial consequences of tobacco use, and offer proactive referral to a quitline and free nicotine patches. This ask-advise-refer approach was tailored to fit credit and employment counseling protocols, which routinely mention tobacco use as an “unnecessary” expense and a barrier to employment. JSI provided counselors with fax referral forms and informational materials designed to heighten clients’ readiness to quit by demonstrating the immediate financial benefits of cessation, in terms of increased cash on hand, improved employment prospects and lower healthcare costs. Benefits: Data on smoking prevalence among counselees, and percentages of smokers referred to and participating in quitline services will be presented, along with commentary from counselors and clients. Boosting readiness to quit and connecting low-income individuals with quitlines via employment readiness and credit counseling programs is an innovative, replicable strategy for promoting tobacco cessation to a population that is both more likely to use tobacco and less likely to utilize proven cessation methods.