title: Intentions of smokers to use free nicotine replacement therapy.
abstract: Public health initiatives to distribute nicotine replacement therapy free of charge as a means of promoting smoking cessation are ongoing. Are there enough smokers interested in using nicotine replacement therapy to have a substantial impact on the prevalence of smoking if this aid were distributed free to all interested smokers? We conducted a telephone survey of 825 randomly selected daily smokers aged 18 years or older who had smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day at some point in their lives. Overall, 58.9% of the respondents said they would be interested in nicotine replacement therapy if it were offered for free. Of those interested, almost all (93.8%) said that they would use the nicotine replacement therapy to help them quit for good. There were differences in the levels of interest: smokers who intended to quit were more interested in using the nicotine replacement therapy than those who planned to reduce or maintain their smoking.
authors.affiliation: Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research Department, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON. john_cunningham@camh.net
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: Peter L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Selby
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006078:Government Programs; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009864:Ontario; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology*; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D018722:Nicotinic Agonists