Combining Individual and Group Counselling Sessions in a Smoking Cessation Intervention

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate if and how the inclusion of group counselling sessions in an individual counselling intervention program affects the participants’ effort to give up smoking and adopt a healthier lifestyle by increasing their physical activity. It was also aimed to identify specific techniques, characteristics and qualities of group sessions and also the dynamics of the certain closed but heterogeneous group (all the members started and finished the group meetings together, however they were at a different level of behaviour change). The participants were 5 men and 3 women aged 39 to 47 years. The intervention included 12 individual and 3 group sessions, while the follow up was set to 6 months after the last individual meeting. Individual counselling was person-centered and based on motivational interviewing. Group counselling aimed to communication, acceptance, sharing experiences and feelings among the group members about their common goal. A semi-structured interview was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. According to the results, the inclusion of group sessions contributed positively to the process of smoking cessation. The participants reported that the sense of not being alone and the existence of a safe environment, which was the frame of the team, in which they could express themselves and share knowledge, experiences and emotions, to be very helpful. The different progress levels of the participants seemed to be really helpful for them. Regarding the success rate, 87.5% of the participants (7 out of 8) achieved their goal at the end of the program, while in the follow up there was only one relapse and the effectiveness of the program reached 75%.