Toolkits and Clinical Guides for Tobacco Cessation

Essential Resources

The Tobacco Dependence Treatment Handbook: A Guide to Best Practices, New York: The Guilford Press, 2007, Abrams, D.B., Niaura, R., Brown, R.A., Emmons, K.M., Goldstein, M.G, Monti, P.M. (Note: There is no link to this resource. It can be purchased at a reasonable cost.)

This unique clinical handbook offers the knowledge, skills, and materials needed to help all types of smokers, even the most hard-core, successfully quit. Provided are assessment tools, treatment planning guidelines, and a series of complete treatment packages, ranging from ultra-brief to more intensive options. Designed for use in a variety of settings by a wide range of providers, the volume is evidence-based and consistent with the latest national guidelines on best practice. Also included are session-by-session intervention guidelines, helpful case examples, and dozens of requisite handouts and forms, ready to photocopy and use.

Tobacco Treatment for Persons with Substance Use Disorders: A Toolkit for Substance Abuse Treatment Providers, Tobacco Use Recovery Now!, 2008.

A toolkit intended for professionals involved in the delivery of substance abuse treatment—counselors, clinical supervisors, managers, administrators and behavioral health organizations. The toolkit contains a variety of information and step-by-step instructions about low burden means of assessing readiness to quit, possible treatments, referral to community resources, and recommended agency policies for tobacco treatment and control.

Treatment Planning: Integrating Tobacco Use Interventions into Chemical Dependency Services, Professional Development Program, Rockefeller College, University at Albany, State University of New York, October 2009.

This training and technical assistance initiative was designed to help agencies use a multidisciplinary approach to integrate tobacco interventions into chemical dependence programs.

Smoking Cessation for Persons with Mental Health Illness: A Toolkit for Mental Health Providers, University of Colorado Denver, Department of Psychiatry, Behavioral Health and Wellness Program, January 2009.

A toolkit developed for a broad continuum of mental health providers. Materials are intended for direct providers, as well as administrators and behavioral health organizations. Many of the materials are also appropriate for primary care and substance abuse providers. The toolkit contains information and step-by-step instruction about low burden means of assessing readiness to quit, possible treatments, strategies for reducing relapse, and referral to community resources.

Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update, Quick Reference Guide for Clinicians, Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, April 2009, Fiore M.C., Jaén C.R., Baker T.B., et al.

This Quick Reference Guide for Clinicians contains strategies and recommendations from the Public Health Service-sponsored Clinical Practice Guideline Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update. The guideline was designed to assist clinicians; smoking cessation specialists; and healthcare administrators, insurers, and purchasers in identifying and assessing tobacco users and in delivering effective tobacco dependence interventions. It was based on an exhaustive systematic review and analysis of the extant scientific literature from 1975-2007 and uses the results of more than 50 meta-analyses.

“Tobacco Use Cessation during Substance Abuse Treatment Counseling,” Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA Advisory, March 2011/

Good overview of state-of-the-art treatment practices for substance abuse counselors.

Other Useful Resources

FDA Consumer Health Information, Nicotine Replacement Therapy Labels May Change, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, April 2013.

New FDA guidelines for use on the labels of over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs) are reviewed.

Developing Tobacco Treatment Plans, Tobacco Recovery Resource Exchange, Professional Development Program, Rockefeller College, University at Albany, State University of New York. December 2009.

This document presents five case studies with patients in treatment at five different levels of care, followed by a sample tobacco treatment plan that addresses the tobacco-related problems. It can be used as a companion document to Integrating Tobacco Use Interventions into Chemical Dependency Services.

Tobacco-Free Living in Psychiatric Settings: A Best Practices Toolkit Promoting Wellness and Recovery, July 2007, Updated October 2010, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors.

Contains practical tools to create a tobacco-free psychiatric setting. Clinical staff will be interested in sections about treatment protocols and curricula. Human resources managers can use guidelines and sample policies to review and revise employee policies, procedures, and benefit design. The toolkit addresses all types of tobacco use, including cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco.

Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update. Clinical Practice Guideline, Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Public Health Service. May 2008, Fiore M.C., Jaén C.R., Baker T.B., et al.

This extensive report updates the original 1996 Guideline which was based on some 3,000 articles on tobacco treatment published between 1975 and 1994, as well as the 2000 Guideline which entailed the collection and screening of an additional 3,000 articles published between 1995 and 1999. This 2008 Guideline update screened and additional 2,700 articles; thus, it reflects the distillation of a literature base of more than 8,700 research articles. The Quick Reference Guide for Clinicians listed just below is based on this study.

A Hidden Epidemic: Tobacco Use and Mental Illness, Legacy, June 2011.

This is the tenth publication in Legacy’s dissemination series. The publication calls attention to the issue of the high prevalence of tobacco use and nicotine dependence among people with mental illnesses and highlights barriers to effective tobacco-cessation efforts to help them quit. There are also five case studies including one on changing the culture of the clubhouse (Genesis Club in Worchester, MA).

Do Quitlines Have a Role in Serving the Tobacco Cessation Needs of Persons with Mental Illnesses and Substance Abuse Disorders?: A Background Report – 2010, Quitline Behavioral Health Advisory Forum

Discusses and makes recommendations as to how quitlines can best serve a behavioral health population. Also notes that Quitlines are most effective when working in coordination with other providers. Studies suggest that formal partnerships and referral mechanisms may decrease client ambivalence, give clinicians more confidence in clients’ follow through, and lead to a ten-fold increase in quitline utilization. Use of mechanisms such as fax referrals from community providers allows quitlines to call potential clients proactively. Formal linkages with behavioral health providers also further assure quitline personnel that comorbid mental health and substance abuse issues are being monitored appropriately, making quitline programming for this population more attractive.

Bringing Everyone Along Resource Guide. Smoking Cessation Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon. January 2008, Tobacco Cessation Leadership Network.

This guide was developed to assist an array of health professionals to adapt tobacco dependence treatment to the unique needs of smokers with mental illness and substance use disorders. These include tobacco dependence treatment program directors, tobacco treatment specialists, mental health and substance use treatment program directors, mental health and substance use treatment specialists, and primary care providers. The Guide aims to be a practical resource based on existing research.