Acceptance and practicability of a visual communication tool in smoking cessation counselling: a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Smoking cessation advice is important for reducing the worldwide burden of disease resulting from tobacco smoking. Appropriate risk communication formats improve the success of counselling interventions in primary care. AIMS: To test the feasibility and acceptance of a smoking cessation counselling tool with different cardiovascular risk communication formats including graphs, in comparison with the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG) ‘quit smoking assistance’ tool. METHODS: GPs were randomised into an intervention group (using our communication tool in addition to the IPCRG sheet) and a control group (using the IPCRG sheet only). We asked participants for socioeconomic data, smoking patterns, understanding of information, motivation, acceptance and feasibility, and measured the duration and frequency of counselling sessions. RESULTS: Twenty-five GPs performed 2.8 counselling sessions per month in the intervention group and 1.7 in the control group (p=0.3) with 114 patients. The median duration of a session was 10 mins (control group 11 mins, p=0.09 for difference). Median patients' motivation for smoking cessation was 7 on a 10-point visual analogue scale with no significant difference before and after the intervention (p=0.2) or between groups (p=0.73 before and p=0.15 after the intervention). Median patients' ratings of motivation, self-confidence, understanding of information, and satisfaction with the counselling were 3–5 on a 5-point Likert scale, similar to GPs' ratings of acceptance and feasibility, with no significant difference between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among Swiss GPs and patients, both our innovative communication tool and the IPCRG tool were well accepted and both merit further dissemination and application in research.