Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access originally published online on December 3, 2007
Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2008 33(2):133-144; doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsm112
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Developing Smoking Cessation Programs for Chronically Ill Teens: Lessons Learned from Research with Healthy Adolescent Smokers*
1Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis, 2Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard School of Public Health, 3National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, and 4Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Leslie A. Robinson, PhD, Department of Psychology, 202 Psychology, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA. E-mail: L.Robinson{at}mail.psyc.memphis.edu
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Objective Medically fragile teens who smoke need access to smoking cessation programs, because they are at even higher risk than their healthy peers for smoking-related complications. Methods To date, no studies on the outcome of smoking cessation programs for medically ill teens have been conducted. To suggest directions for future research, we turn to the literature on smoking cessation in the general population of teens and occasionally to the literature on adult smokers. Results Four areas are explored: (a) the prevalence of unaided cessation in healthy teens; (b) the outcomes of various treatments for smoking cessation in healthy adolescents; (c) special issues that should be considered when designing programs for medically ill teens; and (d) lessons learned from previous research. Conclusions Medically ill teens face a number of medical, emotional, social, and developmental challenges that can affect the quitting process. Research is sorely needed to address the unique needs of this population.
Key words: adolescents; chronic illness; pediatric; smoking cessation; tobacco use.
*This article is based on the proceedings from the conference, "Tobacco Control Strategies for Medically At-Risk Youth" held at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN on October 6–8, 2005.
Received December 15, 2006; revision received July 26, 2007; accepted October 17, 2007