Mothers-to-be get support to quit the habit

A one-stop hub of resources to help healthcare professionals support pregnant women in Derbyshire to give up smoking is being created.
STOCK: smoking.STOCK: smoking.
STOCK: smoking.

Methods to encourage expectant mothers to quit their habit are being identified and new ones will be developed where gaps exist.

They will be pooled together as part of a training module and a manual for smoking cessation specialists who work with pregnant women, with a view to becoming integrated into standard NHS training programmes. The initiative is being launched because research shows one-to-one support delivered by trained anti-smoking advisors generates positive results.

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The project is being funded by NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) East Midlands, an organisation which turns research into cost-saving and high-quality care through cutting-edge innovation.

Professor Tim Coleman, professor of primary care at the UK Centre for Alcohol and Tobacco Studies, who has led the project, said: “We believe using certain behavioural support techniques, which are relevant to the everyday lives of most pregnant smokers, will increase engagement and provide better results in terms of giving up. Smoking in pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, prematurity, low birth weight, sudden infant death and asthma in the child once born.”

The project is due to start this summer and the resources are expected to be launched in 2018. According to the Health and Social Care Information Centre, 12 per cent of mothers were smokers at the time of delivery in 2014 in England.