From Good to Great: The Role of Performance Coaching in Enhancing Tobacco-Dependence Treatment Rates

Sophia Papadakis; Adam G. Cole; Robert D. Reid; Roxane Assi; Marie Gharib; Heather E. Tulloch; Kerri-Anne Mullen; George Wells; Andrew L. Pipe

doi:10.1370/afm.2312

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Performance coaching to quit smoking can benefit the doctor and the smoker.
Christopher J. Young

Published on: 11 December 2018

Published on: (11 December 2018)
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Performance coaching to quit smoking can benefit the doctor and the smoker.
Christopher J. Young, Colorectal Surgeon
Very few people are unaware that cigarette smoking is 'bad' for you. But the chemical and social avidity of smokers for smoking and yet often even a repulsion of their habit at the same time, reveals that the more you scratch the surface, the more layers there are to dealing with smoking and getting people to quit.
While we know a rising tide lifts all boats, we can also aspire to smart coaching helping all smoker...
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Very few people are unaware that cigarette smoking is 'bad' for you. But the chemical and social avidity of smokers for smoking and yet often even a repulsion of their habit at the same time, reveals that the more you scratch the surface, the more layers there are to dealing with smoking and getting people to quit.
While we know a rising tide lifts all boats, we can also aspire to smart coaching helping all smokers, even if via the doctors who are coached and pass on the enhanced knowledge and skills.
The article in this issue by Papadakis and colleagues reports the results of performance coaching when used in conjunction, or not with a multicomponent intervention. Those clinicians who undertook performance coaching significantly improved their delivery of the intervention, but there was no significant difference in smoking cessation rates. This lack of difference may be due in part to the 34% of clinicians in the intervention group not attending the coaching sessions, and the study end-point being cessation at 6 months. The increased number of attempts to quit in the coaching arm is encouraging.
What we can say is that coaching itself makes a difference, even if in this study not to the ultimate desired goal, which is the cessation of smoking. It clearly shows that delivery of the program and the patient's number of attempts to implement the outcomes of the program significantly improve. That is enough to look much more into the benefits of performance coaching in health scenarios and to continue further research in it.
Competing interests: None declared
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Competing Interests: None declared.