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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2007.128207v1 98/10/1894    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Cropsey, K. Articles by Best, A. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cropsey, K. Articles by Best, A. Related Collections Health Policy Smoking Cessation Women's Health

Karen Cropsey, PsyD, Gloria Eldridge, PhD, Michael Weaver, MD, Gabriela Villalobos, BS, Maxine Stitzer, PhD and Al Best, PhD

Karen Cropsey is with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Alabama, Birmingham. Gloria Eldridge is with the Department of Behavioral Health Research and Services, University of Alaska, Anchorage. Michael Weaver and Gabriela Villalobos are with the Department of Internal Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. Maxine Stitzer is with the Department of Psychiatry, Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. Al Best is with the Department of Biostatistics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Karen Cropsey, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Substance Abuse Center, 401 Beacon Parkway West, Birmingham, AL 35209 (e-mail: kcropsey{at}beapsy1.his.uab.edu).

Objectives. We tested the efficacy of a combined pharmacologic and behavioral smoking cessation intervention among women in a state prison in the southern United States.

Methods. The study design was a randomized controlled trial with a 6-month waitlist control group. The intervention was a 10-week group intervention combined with nicotine replacement therapy. Two hundred and fifty participants received the intervention, and 289 were in the control group. Assessments occurred at baseline; end of treatment; 3, 6, and 12 months after treatment; and at weekly sessions for participants in the intervention group.

Results. The intervention was efficacious compared with the waitlist control group. Point prevalence quit rates for the intervention group were 18% at end of treatment, 17% at 3-month follow-up, 14% at 6-month follow-up, and 12% at 12-month follow-up, quit rates that are consistent with outcomes from community smoking-cessation interventions.

Conclusions. Female prisoners are interested in smoking cessation interventions and achieved point-prevalence quit rates similar to community samples. Augmenting tobacco control policies in prison with smoking cessation interventions has the potential to address a significant public health need.