Workplace ideal for tobacco cessation

The workplace is an excellent setting to conduct a tobacco cessation programme, says a review paper titled 'An Overview of tobacco problem in India.'

This appears to be a very relevant recommendation considering that 17.5 per cent of adults in Kerala were exposed to tobacco smoke at the work place. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2009-10 shows that 21.5 per cent of men and 3.7 per cent women were exposed to second-hand smoke at the workplace.

Having a tobacco cessation at the workplace will give an opportunity to interact with large number of people simultaneously, help to train the industrial medical staff in tobacco cessation activities, promises positive peer pressure and a stable population for follow-up. 

Several cessation activities have been conducted at a variety of workplaces in both urban and rural India, demonstrating a good quit rate, the study states.

Other methods of cessation, like the group counselling, behavioural interventions in adolescents and pregnant women, technology-driven interventions, such as telephone counselling, dedicated quit lines, and mobile and web-based technologies have recently gained popularity. 

Combining different interventions gives good results as compared with a single intervention, adds the study that has been published in the Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. 

Source: PubMed

Image Courtesy: Eorthopod