Quitlines

Quitlines are telephone-based tobacco cessation services. Some quitlines may offer assistance in tobacco counseling, pharmacotherapy, referrals, and mailings of self-help materials. They also can vary in the size of operation and the diverse populations they address.  Quitlines can be an effective approach to cessation in some communities and research has shown that quitlines are an effective way to deliver tobacco cessation services but, they also require adequate funding, both for promotion and operations.

In 2004, the Department of Human Services established a national network of tobacco cessation quitlines, to ensure that all Americans have access to quitline services. The toll-free number 1-800-QUITNOW was dedicated as a single point of access to all U.S. state-based quitlines. Calls placed to 1-800-QUITNOW are routed electronically, by area code, to state quitlines allowing tobacco users acess to the tools and resources they need to quit smoking and ensuring the highest level of assistance to those wanting to quit.

 Adapted from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Telephone Quitlines: A Resource for Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (September2004),  those who fund, manage, or are preparing to operate a quitline are should:

• Provide a mix of reactive and proactive services, and counseling services
•  Facilitate access to quitting aids like nicotine patches, nicotine gum, and bupropion
• When culturally appropriate, provide multi-lingual counseling services
•  Refer to local cessation programs or agencies that provide a range of health and mental health services
•  Train staff on resources available to callers in crisis and on when to break confidentiality to ensure safety
• Offer self-help materials to callers who do not receive counseling
•  Develop counseling protocols and services for special populations including pregnant smokers, adolescent smokers, low-income tobacco users and users of chewing tobacco

The number of states and provinces in North America offering quitline services for smokers and other tobacco-users has increased exponentially in the last decade. Today, residents in all ten provinces in Canada and all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the USA have access to quitline services. The dramatic growth in the number of these services has led to an increased awareness of the important role quitlines can play in assisting smokers and a desire to better understand the operations, promotion, and effectiveness of quitlines.¹

Through the The North American Quitline Consortium (NAQC) quitline professionals work together to increase access to and the effectiveness of quitline services that help people in their quitting attempts. The Consortium seeks to unite health departments, quitline service providers, researchers and national organizations in the United States and Canada to enable these quitline professionals to learn from each other and to improve quitline services.

NAQC's mission is to:

• Maximize the access, use , and effectiveness of quitlines;
• Provide leadership and a unified voice to promote quitlines and
• Offer a forum to link those interested in quitline operations

If you would like to learn more about NAQC, please visit their website www.naquitline.org

For toll-free cessation services, please call: 1-800-QUITNOW or 1-800-784-8669
or visit the website  http://1800quitnow.cancer.gov/faq.aspx

Sources:
1- The North American Quitline Consortium. www.naquitline.org.