This webinar, presented by the Program to Achieve Wellness, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is a valuable resource for healthcare providers, especially those that specialize in smoking cessation or treating people with behavioral health issues. It identifies specific problems that smoking tobacco creates for people with mental illnesses and provides focused options for treatment. The presenter, Dr. Marc Steinberg, references a study he conducted with his colleagues in 2004. They studied groups of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who needed smoking cessation treatment and had no desire to quit. People who received psychoeducational or motivational interventions for smoking cessation were more likely to seek treatment for tobacco dependence.

Using conclusions from his research, Dr. Steinberg makes recommendations for the treatment of people with behavioral health issues to quit smoking. Motivational interventions yielded the best results in the study, and results indicate populations with behavioral health issues would benefit from this treatment. Motivational interviewing can increase the desire to quit and self-efficacy in individuals who would benefit from smoking cessation. Practical counseling that recognizes high-risk situations can also be hugely influential in a patent’s decision to begin smoking cessation.

This resource was first shared in 2016.

(Presentation, YouTube)