UK provides e-cigarette smoking cessation support for people with mental illness

An article by Louise Ross, former smoking cessation service manager at Leicester City Council, assesses the challenges and opportunities in supporting people with poor mental health to quit smoking.

Several research and health bodies, including the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), point out that people with mental illness have a higher tendency to smoke compared to the general population. They therefore benefit greatly from additional support in quitting smoking and accessing safer alternatives, which will at least reduce the likelihood that they will also suffer from smoking-related diseases.

The third in a series of five articles reflecting on the role of nurses in providing guidance and support for smoking cessation.

First point out that smokers who take psychotropic medications tend to require higher doses. "The tar (but not nicotine) in tobacco smoke also increases the need for higher doses of certain psychotropic drugs, so quitting smoking may allow some people to be prescribed lower doses with fewer side effects."

The Royal College of Nursing endorsed a 2016 ASH report, The steep Years, which called on health services to reduce smoking rates among mental health patients to below 5% by 2035. And plans to set the smoking rate at 35% by 2020.

The article points out that the 2020 target was achieved due to the following factors: a strong focus on skills and training of the workforce; better access to medications that help people quit smoking; increased awareness that e-cigarettes are safer than smoking; and a shift to smoke-free A mental health environment while providing appropriate support for smokers.

The article adds that nurses are in a particularly good position to promote smoking cessation. Research shows that smokers respond well to intensive smoking cessation treatment tailored to their needs, and ideally nurses who understand individual patients' needs can provide ongoing smoking cessation support.

Of course, to ensure the effectiveness of their support, these healthcare practitioners need to be well-versed in the various smoking cessation treatments available and receive training on which behavioral supports and products are most effective.

To this end, the following free training is provided:

Smoking cessation staff training features a module on mental illness, available free from the National Smoking Cessation and Training Centre, which includes how to:

●Understand the difference between nicotine and tobacco smoke;
●Provide brief advice about smoking;

●Promote the mental health risks and benefits of smoking and quitting;

●Preventing and managing withdrawal symptoms;

●Improve compliance with smoking cessation medications and/or e-cigarettes.