A program for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that integrates smoking cessation into mental health care, found to be effective in a study published last year, is now being expanded to six VA medical centers around the country.
The study, conducted by VA Puget Sound Health Care System and University of Washington researchers Miles McFall, PhD and Andrew Saxon, MD, as well as other colleagues from across the country, found that though many mental health providers are concerned that quitting smoking may destabilize their patients, smoking cessation did NOT increase PTSD symptoms in the 943 smokers participating in the project.
Participants were randomly assigned to either receive smoking cessation services as part of their mental health treatment (integrated care) or were referred to a VA smoking cessation clinic. While quit rates for both groups were low, the veterans in the integrated care group were almost twice as likely to quit as those receiving stand-alone smoking cessation treatment (8.9% versus 4.5%), and symptoms of PTSD improved for both groups similarly.
Now the VA is funding a learning collaborative at six VA sites with PTSD programs in order to implement the findings of the study. Dr. Saxon and colleagues are training providers to deliver integrated smoking cessation care to their PTSD patients.
Find out more about the project at The Partnership at Drugfree.org and read the original research paper for free at the Journal of the American Medical Association.
