Impact of a pharmacist-led smoking cessation service on changes in patients’ attitudes toward smoking

To examine the impact of a community pharmacist-led smoking cessation service on changes in patients’ attitudes towards smoking, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) utilization, and rates of tobacco cessation. Between September 2023 and February 2024, one chain community pharmacy located within a health system enrolled people 18 years and older who were interested in quitting tobacco cigarettes in a biweekly telephone-based program that provided behavioral support and NRT. Participants completed the Attitude Towards Smoking Scale (ATS-18) before and after the intervention. Paired t-tests were conducted to examine changes in patients’ perceptions using the ATS-18. Participants self-reported barriers to NRT before the intervention, if any. Fisher’s exact tests were conducted to examine the relationship between participants who reported previous barriers to NRT use and who agreed to use NRT. The number of participants who quit smoking was also reported. A total of 71 participants were enrolled in the study, of which 40 participants (56.3%) completed the study. Only participants who completed the study were analyzed as those who dropped out did not complete the ATS-18 post-intervention, and their changes in attitudes could not be assessed. Participants were a mean age of 59 years, 52% were male, and 59% were African American. Participants reported positive changes in their perceptions of tobacco cessation based on the ATS-18 (p<0.001). Furthermore, 33 participants agreed to use and pick-up NRT and 11 participants self-reported smoking cessation. A pharmacist-led smoking cessation service had a positive impact on changes in patients’ attitudes towards smoking.