The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: To test whether patients suffering from lung diseases require an educational intervention to motivate them to attend a smoking cessation counseling session, or whether a practitioner's directive suffices.

Methods: A two-arm randomized pilot study was conducted in a lung clinic in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. In one arm, patients were asked to receive counseling by a health care provider. In the second arm, patients received an education session employing culturally sensitive tobacco messages prior to the invitation to receive counseling. The primary outcome of the study was whether a patient agreed to participate in a smoking cessation session designed to help them quit.

Results: 276 patients participated in the study: 128 in the pre-counseling education arm and 134 in the counseling only arm. Patients in both arms were similar in terms of age and level of smoking. Only 5 out of the 276 patients in the study refused to participate in counseling. . However, < 5% of patients returned for a follow up counseling session. In Javanese culture, it is impolite for patients to refuse a directive from health staff of higher social status. Advice to attend a clinic based smoking cessation counseling session was effective with or without a pre-counseling educational intervention. Poor attendance at a follow up cessation session suggests adherence to practitioner's advice is time limited. . Future research is needed to determine whether clinic based counseling sessions and/or the provision of culturally-tailored cessation materials influences patients' future quit attempts.