UK National Smoking Cessation Conference

Poster Presentation 1- Risk of Shisha Campaign

Throughout England, smoking the water pipe shisha has become a trendy pursuit for the young. It is usually shared between friends and is seen to be an enjoyable and relaxing experience. However, many are unaware of the amount of smoke inhaled during a typical one-hour shisha session. This campaign based on a simple, but powerful message ‘Are you a 100-a-day smoker’ was launched across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cumbria, West Midlands, South London and Portsmouth.

The purpose of this poster presentation is to share the outcomes of the campaign, the tremendous buy in from multiple stake-holders and the highly visual impact the poster had with service users.

Smoking in pregnancy increases infant mortality by about 40% and is much higher in routine and manual groups. Many women ‘spontaneously quit’ on discovering their pregnancy, or in the period of ‘trying’ before a pregnancy – although the relapse rate post-partum is still relatively high. Women who do not spontaneously quit are likely to be apparently less motivated (although this could be a low sense of self-efficacy in disguise) and/or more addicted to nicotine and smoking related ritual and behaviours.

These factors combine to make intervention with pregnant smokers more difficult and the need for behaviour change models more essential. Their fears around the consequences of smoking and being perceived as a ‘bad mother’ mean that – even more than any other – this group of women need sensitive handling.

In order to increase the overall success rates and wellbeing, a new integrated model has been developed. This has been successfully piloted in Wirral and in essence combines the basis of stop smoking, wellbeing, healthy eating, body imagery and self-esteem. This presentation will discuss key findings of the project, including outcomes, success rates, challenges of a 12-week programme and customer feedback.