MONDAY, Jan. 16, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- The family that smokes together may also quit together.
That's the theory behind a new program designed to help relatives of lung cancer patients kick the habit.
Sponsored by Duke University Medical Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Durham VA Medical Center, the "Family Ties" smoking cessation program provides stress management and coping skills to relatives of lung cancer patients. Creators of the program believe this type of counseling will make it easier for people to kick the habit.
"Nicotine addiction is such a powerful force that even the heartbreak of watching a family member die of lung cancer often isn't enough to convince smokers to quit," said Dr. Lori Bastian, an internist at Duke. She noted that just 15 percent of smokers stop when a relative is diagnosed with lung cancer.
Physical addiction to nicotine is usually targeted in smoking cessation programs, while the psychological and social factors are often ignored, Bastian said. The Family Ties program targets those issues.
"A nicotine patch may not be enough. We have a group of smokers who are often interested in stopping, but don't have the tools needed to be successful. Family members often tell us they are motivated to quit but the stress of caring for their relative with lung cancer makes it the worst time in their lives to try," Bastian said.
She and her colleagues identify potential participants by asking lung cancer patients for the names of relatives who may be willing to try to quit smoking.
Half the relatives will receive brochures and an audio cassette that outline the dangers of smoking and offer tips on how to quit, along with free nicotine patches. The other relatives will receive the same materials, along with six telephone counseling sessions in which they're taught coping skills and stress-management tools.
People in both groups will be tracked for a year after they complete the 12-week intervention.
"Our hypothesis is that smokers who receive counseling will be more likely to quit smoking. We are hoping for a 25 percent to 30 percent success rate, which appears to be low but would be a significant improvement over the current rate," Bastian said.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about quitting smoking.
