New Parents Open to Stop-Smoking Advice, Study Says

Parents of newborn children can be motivated to quit smoking by targeted interventions, according to researchers from Harvard Medical School.

WebMD reported Feb. 1 that a study led by Jonathan Winickoff, M.D., found that 64 percent of parents of newborns who were enrolled in a special telephone counseling program (which also included information sent to the parents’ doctors) tried to quit smoking, compared to 18 percent of new parents who did not receive counseling.

“The newborn engenders in both parents an overwhelming need to protect it from harm, making the immediate postpartum period a potential teachable moment for motivating smoking cessation,” the study said. “Linking parents to proactive telephone counseling may be a good way to deliver ongoing counseling support to young parents, given their reluctance to travel for repeated face-to-face counseling sessions.”

Researchers tracked 101 parents of newborns for the study, which is slated to be published in the March 2010 issue of the journal Pediatrics.