Home

  • Home
    • » e-Newsletters

New addiction theory discusses drive to quit

Respiratory Care Weekly, March 1, 2006

RTs designing smoking-cessation programs should include information about consequences from illnesses to encourage smokers of all socioeconomic groups to quit. People are more likely to seek treatment for addiction with this knowledge in hand, suggests results of a University of Alabama-Birmingham study released in the March issue of Medical Care.

Over a two-year period, addiction behaviors were studied in 274 alcohol-, cocaine-, and heroin-dependent homeless people, according to Medical Care. The researchers also concluded that family responsibilities may influence compliance with addiction treatment. RTs should consider this as well during program design.

"It's not how much a person uses," says Stefan Kertesz, MD, MSc, study coinvestigator. "It's how much a person believes the drug or alcohol has affected their life and relationships that spurs them toward treatment."

Most Popular