Individualised behavioural counselling for smoking mothers decreased children's exposure to smoke
QUESTION: Does individualised behavioural counselling for smoking mothers reduce children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)?
Design
Randomised (allocation not concealed), blinded (outcome assessors) controlled trial with follow up at 1 year.
Setting
San Diego county, California, USA.
Participants
108 English and Spanish speaking mothers (mean age 29 y; 47% white, 28% Hispanic, 21% black), who smoked ≥2 cigarettes each day and exposed their child (<4 y of age) to the smoke from ≥1 cigarette each day, were identified from service sites of the supplemental nutrition programme for women, infants, and children. Women who were breast feeding and those who did not have a telephone were excluded. Follow up was ≥87%.
Intervention
53 mothers were allocated to individualised behavioural counselling, which comprised 3 in person and 4 telephone counselling sessions over a 3 month period. Sessions were done by trained graduate students and focused on shaping procedures (ie, complex smoking practices were gradually altered to reduce the child's exposure to ETS). During sessions, mothers set long term goals, signed contracts, and …
