'Me mutu, hei oranga mo te whānau'
Let's quit for the well being of the family

Welcome to the September 2006 QuitChat

In this issue:

• Quitters find support in blogs
• Chrissy's quitting story
• New Quitline service evaluation
• Quitline Caller registrations from DHBs
• Number of callers registered with the Quitline
• Tracey Pirihi - Quit Cards Coordinator
• Television advertising schedule
• Research updates

Quitters find support in blogs 

New Zealanders quitting smoking are finding that blogs, an online version of a journal or diary, are providing a new form of support. With recent web developments at www.quit.org.nz, quitters are keeping blogs that can be made public to encourage others.

"OK I shouted myself the Pink Floyd DVD since I've saved $30 in smokes. Still getting cravings, hits me like a truck and I've been careful to have no smokes around the house. If I have to go up the road to buy smokes then I'm less likely to surrender. Feeling good about myself, hope I can stick with it because failure (having a smoke) will be hard to take. I printed off the 'benefits to stopping smoking' page off this website and cut out the list - it's sellotaped to my dashboard. Carpe Diem," writes Punty.

"I'm now at the stage where I'm going to forget counting in days and start on months. Reading some of the other members' blogs is heartening stuff. I sure hope you guys can hang in there. Even one more day is a big step so keep on hangin' in." (taken from Bill's blog)

The blogs are the real reflections of quitters as they become smokefree. Each blog has its own story which represents a different approach to quitting.

It is free to sign up to www.quit.org.nz and you don't need to be on the Quitline programme to use the website. It offers other benefits such as quitting calculators to keep track of how much money has been saved etc.

Chrissy Hoera Chrissy's quitting story  "I have strong memories of us kids going on long trips, piled in the back and Mum and Dad would chain smoke. While growing up this caused me to really hate cigarette smoke, but at 18 years old I started smoking too. Most of the people around me smoked and I really just stopped resisting. When my mum was about 55 years old her doctor told her that her lungs were shot. Her chain smoking and chronic asthma gave her little hope of any quality of life, so she was told to quit smoking. We never knew how hard it was for her to quit. I just thought she had given up and that was it. In the days following her death we found a diary that she had used to record her quitting experience; it talked about how hard it had been for her. It made me cry. You don't often realise that your whānau need support to quit. You just think good on them and that's it really. When I realised how hard it had been for mum and that she still managed to quit, I knew I had to quit too. It wasn't easy for me. I'm not one of those people that can just give up straight away. Smoking caused me to feel guilty and I hated it and wondered why I would want to feel like that. Why would I keep on doing something that made me feel bad? So I quit smoking and know it was the right choice. Replacing my habit took some work. Walking and changing my routine helped me a lot. Thanks Mum." In remembrance of my beautiful and brave mum Kuini Hoera (nee Manihera) 11 March 1937 – 15 September 1997

New Quitline service evaluation 

The Quit Group is carrying out a comprehensive evaluation of Quitline clients to monitor the impacts of the New Quitline Service, which started in May 2005.

It is intended that a sample of around 2000 Quitline callers, including Māori and Pacific Peoples, will be surveyed at different stages following their first contact with the Quitline. Callers will be asked about their perceptions of the service and background information on their smoking behaviour and attitudes. Quit status will also be determined.

The evaluation will consist of four key activities:

• A longitudinal survey of a group of Quitline callers
• An analysis of how people use their NRT cards
• A Quitline customer satisfaction survey
• Quitline caller monitoring data analysis.

Quitline Caller registrations from DHBs 

Tracey Pirihi - Quit Cards Coordinator 

Tracey Pirihi

Tracey Pirihi is the Quit Cards Coordinator for all the Quit Cards providers around New Zealand. She has been working with The Quit Group since 2000 and has recently taken the place of Steve Cook as the programme coordinator.

Tracey's role includes:

• Registering new Quit Cards providers
• Training new Quit Cards providers
• Administration of the programme
• Sending out Quit Cards when providers run low.

For more information about the Quit Cards programme visit our web site: www.quit.org.nz.

Overseas trained cessation providers:

People who have overseas training in smoking cessation and want to become Quit Cards providers should contact Tracey. Tracey will investigate to see if the overseas training is equivalent to that offered in New Zealand.

Contact:
Tracey Pirihi
04 460 9899
tracey@quit.org.nz

Research updates 

Long-term NRT recommended for smokers

Tobacco dependence should be viewed as a chronic disorder requiring long-term treatment. A review of the long-term effect of NRT found the impact of the current "one shot" therapeutic approach was significant but modest and recommended long-term treatment similar to the treatment of other chronic diseases such as hypertension.
http://tc.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/15/4/280

New quitting pill

A wonder pill that appears to help smokers kick the habit could soon be on sale in Britain, according to Britain's Daily Mail. Chantrix, which mimics the effects of nicotine, has been licensed for use in the United States and is now being considered by European regulators. Research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found almost half the people who used Chantrix successfully quit.
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/166/15/1561

Health benefits of quitting smoking

Health benefits from quitting smoking are overwhelming, according to a new report published by 17 scientists from eight countries. The report concludes that the risk for disease rarely declines to that of people who have never smoked but there are major risk reductions for a range of cancers and for coronary heart disease.
International Agency for Research on Cancer. IARC monographs on the evaluation of the carcinogenic risks of chemicals to humans, Vol 83: Tobacco smoke and involuntary smoking. IARC Press, Lyon, 2004.