Prolonged cessation treatment – who enrolls, who completes, and who quits?

Background: The Southeastern Pennsylvania Tobacco Control Program (SEPA TCP) provides tobacco prevention and cessation services in seven counties. Over 2,300 clients a year receive treatment through SEPA TCP's group and individual cessation programs. Some services are targetted to disparately affected populations, and clients represent a wide range of demographics.

Findings: Aggregated analysis of cessation client demographics, and pre- and post-treatment survey responses from January-September 2010 will be presented. Demographics will be examined to better understand the population being served, including age, gender, race/ethnicity, education and other indicators. Pre- and post- survey questions will be compared to analyze changes in smoking and other behaviors before and after treatment. Behavioral variables will include current and past cigarette smoking, cessation methods and frequency of quit attempts, and exposure to TSP.

Conclusions: Comparing clients' pre-treatment and post-treatment surveys will highlight differences in starting points, quit strategies and cigarette abstinence between adults who participated in cessation counseling provided by SEPA TCP. The process of comparing pre-treatment and post-treatment survey responses will also examine differences and similarities in demographic and behavioral indicators between those who complete a cessation program and those who do not.