The study of a self help approach to smoking cessation in pregnancy
(1) suffers from the common misconception that the process of intervention
is less important than the outcome. This simple intervention aimed to
include at least 5 minutes explanation by a midwife specially trained to
introduce the first self help smoking cessation booklet at the first
antenatal appointment, followed by 4 further booklets posted at intervals
during pregnancy.
None of the intervention women subsequently interviewed could recall
the midwife taking them through the first booklet at the first antenatal
appointment. Interviewed midwives admitted that time spent at maternity
booking was variable. The most worrying issue is that we have no idea how
many women had 5 minutes, how many had more than 5 minutes and how many
had less than 5 minutes explanation at maternity booking.
We are therefore left with 2 questions which should have been
answered by this study. 1. Did the intervention take place as planned? 2.
If it did not, would it have worked if it had?
1. Moore L, Campbell R, Whelan A, Mills N, Lupton P, Misselbrook E,
Frohlich J. Self help smoking cessation in pregnancy: cluster randomised
controlled trial. BMJ 2002; 325: 1383-6.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
27 December 2002
David Michael Tappin
Clinical Senior Lecturer, Department of Child Health, Glasgow University.
Evelyn Mohammed
Paediatric Epidemiology & Community Health Unit, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, G3 8SJ.
Rapid Response:
The Process of Health Promotion
The study of a self help approach to smoking cessation in pregnancy (1) suffers from the common misconception that the process of intervention is less important than the outcome. This simple intervention aimed to include at least 5 minutes explanation by a midwife specially trained to introduce the first self help smoking cessation booklet at the first antenatal appointment, followed by 4 further booklets posted at intervals during pregnancy.
None of the intervention women subsequently interviewed could recall the midwife taking them through the first booklet at the first antenatal appointment. Interviewed midwives admitted that time spent at maternity booking was variable. The most worrying issue is that we have no idea how many women had 5 minutes, how many had more than 5 minutes and how many had less than 5 minutes explanation at maternity booking.
We are therefore left with 2 questions which should have been answered by this study. 1. Did the intervention take place as planned? 2. If it did not, would it have worked if it had?
1. Moore L, Campbell R, Whelan A, Mills N, Lupton P, Misselbrook E, Frohlich J. Self help smoking cessation in pregnancy: cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2002; 325: 1383-6.
Competing interests: None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests