Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of preventable mortality. Yet, it is one of the vices that most people find it hard to quit. In fact, there are over 40 million smokers in the United States alone, which makes it as one of the prevailing type of addiction next to alcohol and drug addiction.
So for those who wish to stop smoking, there are ways to do it effectively. And one such method of quitting is by smoking cessation. To be specific, it is a type of intervention that is tailored fit to the needs of the user combined with the willingness to quit (self-help), behavioral support therapy, professional intervention, and the use of medications for efficient termination of cigarette addiction.
Learn more as we are going to share some proven smoking cessation strategies that work so you can stop the bad habit of puffing cigs for good.
The 5 “A’s” Of Smoking Intervention
The first and foremost step in intervention, as briefly mentioned above, is the willingness of the user to stop smoking. This is very crucial because if there is no conscious effort on the user to quit, then the subsequent support methods of intervention will be not successful. And as a result, the user will again succumb to the bad habit.
Once the willingness is established, then you can proceed to the 5 “A’s” Of Smoking Intervention:
Ask – Conduct an interview with the patient to learn more about his/her history of tobacco use, the influencing factors that lead him/her to cigarette smoking, and his/her reasons for resorting into smoking.
These details are necessary for you to formulate a kind of intervention process that will effectively work based on the user’s situation.
Advise – Talk to the user in a personal manner and encourage them in a clear way to stop smoking. Of course, you may expect some retaliation on their part.
If you are easily swayed, then it’s highly likely that they will go back to their bad smoking habits. So be firm with your stand because the user will also unconsciously rely on your support to help them to quit smoking.
Assess – All smoking cessation strategies also involves some form of assessment to determine the tobacco user’s willingness to quit. To be specific, try to identify if the user is really willing to quit this time around.
In most cases, a cigarette smoker will make several attempts to quit before reaching to a successful attempt. And usually, this all depends on their firm willingness to quit. So try to find out if they are really ready to stop or not.
Assist – Once the user is really prepared to quit, then it’s time to administer intervention support by means of counseling, psychological intervention, and pharmacotherapy. You can even ask the user’s family and friends to aid in the intervention by also showing their support because once the user feels the support of their loved ones they will be more likely to exert more effort to quit.
Arrange – And lastly, all smoking cessation strategies also require you to schedule a follow-up session either by personal meeting or through telephone after the first week of the user’s quit date. This is also needed as the user will go through a withdrawal phase. And this is the point where they are more susceptible to go back to smoking.
So it’s recommended to show reassurance of support so that the user will be more motivated to stop the habit of smoking once and for all. You can also visit Cravingtoquit.com for more info.
