Policy and Practice Changes Associated with a Tobacco-Free Initiative in Residential Substance Use Disorder Treatment

• Published in: Journal of psychoactive drugs p. 1
• Main Authors: Campbell, Barbara K, Le, Thao, McCuistian, Caravella, Bonniot, Catherine, Delucchi, Kevin, Guydish, Joseph
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 16.02.2024
• Subjects: substance use disorder treatment; tobacco cessation; Tobacco-free policy
• ISSN: 2159-9777
• DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2024.2316278

A California-sponsored, 18-month, tobacco-free intervention in residential substance use disorder (SUD) programs was associated with increases in tobacco-free grounds and tobacco-related client services. The current study examined whether positive results would be replicated in 11 programs participating subsequently. Program directors (  = 11) completed surveys of tobacco-related policies pre- and post-intervention. Pre- (  = 163) and post-intervention (  = 128) cross-sectional staff surveys examined tobacco-related training, beliefs, practices, smoking policy, and smoking status. Directors reported increases in tobacco-free grounds (from 3 to 8 programs), tobacco-related staff training (1 to 10 programs), tobacco cessation staff services (1 to 9 programs) and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) provision (6 to 10 programs). At post-intervention, staff were more likely to report smoke-free workplaces (  = 0.008), positive beliefs about treating tobacco use (  = 0.017) and less likely to report current smoking (  = 0.003). Clinical staff were more likely to report tobacco-related training receipt (  = 0.001), program-level NRT provision (  = 0.009) and conducting tobacco-related client services (  < 0.0001) post-intervention. Findings of increases in tobacco-free grounds and tobacco cessation client services corroborated prior results. These and the additional finding of decreases in staff smoking strengthen evidence that initiatives supporting tobacco-free policies can be successfully implemented in SUD treatment.