Getting it right: designing adolescent-centred smoking cessation services.
OBJECTIVE
To demonstrate the importance of identifying adolescent preferences for smoking cessation in order to inform the design of effective adolescent cessation services.


METHODS
Structured qualitative interviews drawing on means-end theory.


METHODS
Three youth-clubs and two secondary schools in south-east Wales.


METHODS
Twenty-five male and female 13-18-year-olds, mainly daily smokers.


RESULTS
Interviewees did not assume immediately that a smoking cessation service is something that will be available to them, and therefore they initially encountered difficulties in identifying attributes of such support. With further prompting interviewees were able to express a preference for support attributes, but these were not attributes that traditionally form part of cessation provision. Their main preference was for support from friends and family, access to nicotine replacement therapy and non-school-based, flexible support and guidance.


CONCLUSIONS
The results re-emphasize the inadequacies of existing cessation provision for meeting adolescent preferences and suggest that developing more adolescent-appropriate support requires a reconceptualization of existing interventions, with service users situated at the core of intervention design. The study highlights a number of service development points for intervention planners including: rethinking the timing and location of provision; placing more emphasis on the selection of facilitators; harnessing support from friends and family; and rooting these developments in broader tobacco control strategies.
MacDonald
Sarah
S
Cardiff Institute of Society, Health and Ethics, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK. macdonalds@cardiff.ac.uk
Rothwell
Heather
H
Moore
Laurence
L
D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006285:Health Planning / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012107:Research Design; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D012944:Social Support
D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine