The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Outcome rates of smoking cessation interventions for alcohol addicted patients are deficient (Sussman, 2002). There are hints that restrictive tobacco control policy improves the outcomes of smoking cessation interventions (Joseph, 1993; Donath, Metz & Kröger, 2005). The study describes existing tobacco control policy in German substance abuse treatment centers. These results are the prerequisite for the analysis whether restrictive tobacco control policy has influence on outcomes.

Methods: 40 German substance abuse inpatient treatment centers were included (20% of all German centers). N = 199 employees (5 per center) answered a questionnaire with seven areas describing tobacco control policy (0 – 100 point-scale). K-means and Latent Cluster analysis was used to investigate clusters of centers with similar policy.

Results: The centers scored highest in restrictiveness of smoking rules (57.3), applying of consequences (63.7) and guaranteeing assessment of smokers (56.9). The areas of existent non-smoker protection (44.3), offering of smoking cessation interventions (43.6), therapist competence concerning smoking (34.5) and existent community activities/employee involvement (24.1) seem less developed. Cluster analysis suggests 4 clusters of centers (classification errors 0.0491): 1. The committed centers, 2. The structural oriented centers 3. The passive centers and 4. The non-smoker-friendly centers. The results show that the existent tobacco control policy has capacity to improve in all areas. On the basis of existing tobacco control policy the hospitals will be coached to implement a more restrictive policy. Its influence on patient behavior will be investigated.