Last update:
04-Apr-2017

Attempts at smoking cessation are difficult, but they have a substantially higher chance of success when undertaken within an organized intervention program. Smoking cessation programs that provide counseling support along with the use of appropriate techniques are more effective concerning the smoking cessation effort, the control of smoking desire and maintaining smoking abstinence, compared with programs without counseling. Counseling can be effective in any form: Individual, group, short, intensive, combined with other treatments, as part of a brief intervention, in the context of community or work, in person, by phone or online, with no significant differences in effectiveness between group and individual intervention. When counseling in smoking cessation programs is motivational and emphasizes psychological support, motivation, increased confidence, social support and the development of personal skills, it has been proved to be helpful in the reduction of perceived difficulties in smoking cessation, the strengthening of faith in the success of cessation efforts and the increase of self-efficacy, all of which are factors that contribute to smoking cessation. An additional help is counseling that includes information about passive smoking and its consequences to others. Finally, counseling appears to ensure greater abstinence from smoking when provided immediately after the day of interruption than when provided before.

Key words: Counseling, Psychological support, Smoking cessation.