World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Smoking Cessation and Treatment of Tobacco Dependence
Best Practices of Smoking Cessation in the Western Pacific Region
Questionnaire
1. Country / Region
Fiji – Pacific Region
Programme background
2. Name of Programme / Service
Smoking Cessation Program
3. What was/ were the objective(s) of the programme / service (e.g. triggering quit attempt, promoting new activity, provision of cessation services)?
Triggering quit attempts to moderate and high dependent smokers
4. What was the duration / time period of the programme / service?
3 months
5. What was the target population?
Patients referred from hospitals, health centers and clinics.
Programme details
6. Please briefly describe the activity(-ies) carried out under the programme / service (e.g. provision of smoking cessation services, campaign to promote/enhance cessation services provision).
Hope Clinic provided a two day Training the Trainers workshop with Health professionals. This workshop was to assist with their consultation if they came across patients that smoked. They use the 5A’s if the patient is willing to quit than refer them to the Hope Clinic. The clinic schedules their appointment and calls the patient for confirmation. Upon arrival, they have a 30 – 40 minutes consultation with the Smoking Cessation Facilitator, medical screening and NRT’s is prescribe according to how dependent they are. When they agree to begin the quit program, they are notified with the 3 months program and given an appointment card for the next visit.
7. What were the factors that contributed to the programme / service establishment?
Few factors that contributed to the establishment of the service was a consultation room, storage of the NRT’s, the intake form and the follow up form and the WHO guideline booklet.
8. Did the programme / service involve other organisation(s) (e.g. non-governmental organisation, professional association, academia)? What were their roles?
Yes, we involved the Doctors, nurses and few other health professionals from the Ministry of Health in Fiji. These health professionals came from public hospitals, health centers and clinics.
9. Please briefly describe the resource implications for this programme / service:
| i. | How was / were necessary funding and / or manpower secured? |
|---|---|
| Funding was offered by WHO to the Hope Clinic Staff for the operations of the Smoking Cessation program. | |
| ii. | Please briefly describe any use of information technology to implement or facilitate the programme / service |
| Most of the IT used was an excel database on a computer for smoking cessation data, also using social media to advertise the smoking cessation program that was offered and a phone to call and follow up with patient progress or appointments. | |
| iii. | Any other special resource required to implement the programme / service? |
| Dedicated personnel. |
10. COVID-19
| i. | Please briefly describe any difficulties encountered during the programme / service implementation amid COVID-19. |
|---|---|
| Due to unemployment many were too busy worrying about their survival then coming for their appointment. | |
| ii. | How did you overcome them? |
| We would follow up with a call and text to check on their progress and encourage them with their quit program. |
Programme evaluation
11. Was there any evaluation of the programme / service (e.g. quantitative survey, qualitative interview, etc.) conducted?
Yes, there was a mixture of qualitative interview as well as a quantitative survey. This was included in the intake form and the follow up form.
12. What was the impact of the programme / services (e.g. number of smokers who quit)?
Hope Clinic did a pilot Smoking Cessation program and our deliverables were to only have 50 patients. We had about 52 patients and we had a 20% success rate.
13. How would the evaluation results be used (e.g. improving policy / programmes)?
Yes, results we attain is to improve and provide policy for the Fiji government to adopt this program into the Ministry of Health.