Efficacy and Cost-Effectiveness of an Intensive and Abbreviated Individualized Smoking Cessation Support Program Delivered by Pharmacists: A Randomized Controlled Trial

One in five deaths in Canada is linked to smoking. It kills up to 50% of its users and over 7 million people each year. Smoking is also a risk factor for several harmful health consequences that affect the quality of life of those who smoke. It also results in substantial economic costs to society.

Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) has the highest smoking prevalence of Canadian provinces; approximately 18.5% of Newfoundlanders smoke on a daily or occasional basis compared to the national average of 13.0%. The Conference Board of Canada reported this year that smoking costs the local NL economy approximately $135 million per year in direct healthcare costs and $53 million in indirect costs, for a total of $188 million.

According to the CAN-ADAPTT Smoking Cessation Clinical Practice Guideline, several intensive counseling interventions are the most effective for smoking cessation. Offering a combination of counseling and pharmacotherapy increases the likelihood that a person will try to quit by 40-60%. Using this evidence, Memorial University's School of Pharmacy recently established a smoking cessation program at the Medication Therapy Services (MTS) Clinic. The program involves in-depth pharmacist consultation, which includes pharmacotherapy and multiple follow-up counseling sessions.

The investigators propose to test the effectiveness of an intensive and abbreviated smoking cessation program (SCP) delivered by trained pharmacists at the MTS Clinic. They hope that findings from this study will inform stakeholders of the value of the program and of the pharmacists' role. If the program is determined to be effective it could be instrumental in applying smoking cessation programs in community pharmacies across the province, including rural and remote locations.

To date there are only a small number of studies that use the randomized, controlled trial design to evaluate the effectiveness of pharmacist delivered interventions. In addition, data is lacking on the perspective of and satisfaction with smoking cessation services from the eyes of someone who participates in the program. Therefore, this study proposes to execute a randomized control trial to determine the effectiveness of a pharmacist-led smoking cessation program. Cost-effectiveness and a qualitative assessment of participant's journey to quit smoking will also be assessed.