Smokers with mental health conditions want & need your help to quit
People with mental illness are far more likely to die from a tobacco caused disease than those without mental illness. They have smoking prevalence rates that are at least twice that of people without mental illness. And, contrary to what we often assume, many are motivated to quit. Tobacco users with mental illness are at least as motivated to quit as those without mental illness and can quit successfully. 85% have tried to quit in the past and more than half are contemplating quitting within six months.
Many health professionals mistakenly believe people with mental illness are not interested or are unable to quit or that quitting will worsen their mental illness.
An informal survey conducted by Dr. Jane Sun at Vancouver General Hospital revealed that of 100 clients in psychiatry who participated:
- 67% were tobacco users, which is more than four times British Columbia’s smoking prevalence rate of 16%
- 55% of the tobacco users polled wanted to cut down or quit
- staff surveyed had estimated only 31% of their smoking clients wanted to cut down or quit, a significant underestimation of client desire to address their tobacco use.
These data suggest that staff may be underestimating the desire of their clients to cut down/quit tobacco use. This presents an opportunity to increase awareness, mobilize resources for our tobacco addicted clients, and increase support for the Smoke-Free Premises Policy. These stats highlight a need for more staff education and that education is effective in changing staff perceptions. Public Health is working hard to educate staff about helping clients/patients.
What you can do
People with mental illness who also use tobacco are often highly motivated to quit. You can help them to do so.
- Ask all clients if they use tobacco.
- If you have a client or patient who smokes, encourage them to cut down or quit.
- Inpatients are eligible for free nicotine replacement therapy. You can help your community clients access 12 weeks per year of free nicotine gum, patch, inhaler, or lozenge at their local pharmacy, contact QuitNow.ca, or make an appointment at the VGH Smoking Cessation clinic by calling 604-875-4800 (option 2).
- For those interested, an online course can help increase your skills in working with your tobacco addicted patients. Search “smoking” at https://ccrs.vch.ca/SearchCourse.aspx.