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Availability of smoking prevention and cessation services for childhood cancer survivors.

de Moor JS, Puleo E, Butterfield RM, Li FP, Emmons KM

Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Center for Community Based Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA. jdemoor@sph.osu.edu

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the smoking-related services available to childhood cancer survivors and describe organizational characteristics that were related to institutions' capacity to provide smoking services. METHODS: Institutions affiliated with the Children's Oncology Group were surveyed from 2003 to 2004. RESULTS: Of the 132 responding institutions, 85% assessed the smoking status of their cancer survivors intermittingly, but only 3% assessed smoking status at every visit, as recommended by the PHS guidelines. A minority of sites offered either smoking prevention (39%) or cessation (25%) services; 58% of sites had a mechanism in place to refer survivors for cessation services. In multivariate analyses, the most parsimonious model predicting capacity for smoking service delivery included barriers, respondents' attitudes, complexity, and institutional stability. CONCLUSIONS: These data highlight an important need to improve the availability of smoking services for childhood cancer survivors. Additionally, these findings will inform the development of future interventions that are sensitive to barriers and facilitators to providing prevention services.

Published 16 March 2007 in Cancer Causes Control, 18(4): 423-30.
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