Smoking is dangerous to one's health. This is known even by many smokers. Stopping smoking can be difficult, especially if the habit has been going on for a long time. Smoking counseling is more successful with lung cancer screening.
Smoking counseling can be done either through personal counseling or over the phone. The latter has been studied by researchers to find if it could be effective, especially when it is paired with lung cancer screening. Kathryn L. Taylor, Ph.D. is lead author of the study and a behavioral scientist and professor of Oncology at Georgetown University Medical Center.
93 participants from three centers joined the study. The centers were MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Hackensack University Medical Center and Lahey Hospital and Medical Center. Taylor has said that many smokers can now be eligible for lung cancer screening.
Taylor has observed that having lung cancer screening can help smokers to seek counseling. An effective screening program has also been noted by the NIH to benefit from smoking counseling programs. Recommendations made during the 2013 US Preventive Services Task Force have it that smokers who have 30 packs per year should consider having a CT lung cancer screening test.
92 people have been participants in the study. They have agreed to be either telephone counseling or standard of care, which are low cost resources. These would go along with lung cancer screening, according to the Georgetown University Medical Center's site.
The research has found that eight of those in the telephone counseling group had quit smoking. This is compared to only two who have chosen the standard of care program. Taylor has said that if the test can be done in other places, counseling can be an effective means of getting people to quit smoking. This can be done to people who are long-term smokers, as Science Daily reports.
Charlotte Hagerman has also offered the telephone counseling program to smokers. She has noted that it can be a motivational way of intervention. There are smokers who have said that it is too late for them to quit smoking, but counseling has helped them to discontinue smoking.
Counseling can be a good way of motivating smokers to quit. Smoking counseling is more successful if it is with lung cancer screening. An aggressive blood pressure control can also lower death rates.
