Population-based smoking cessation in women post partum: adherence to motivational interviewing in relation to client characteristics and behavioural outcomes

Aims: quantitative description of adherence to motivational interviewing (MI) in smoking cessation sessions; and examination of the relationships between client characteristics and adherence to MI, and between adherence to MI and future smoking status. Methods: 84 sessions were conducted during a randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of a population-based smoking intervention in women during the postpartum period. Demographic and behaviour-related variables were included in a logistic regression to predict adherence to MI. Measurements: adherence was measured using the MI Treatment Integrity Scale. Findings: 38.1% of sessions showed good adherence to MI. Receiving a good MI session was not related to any demographic or behavioural variables. The relationship between adherence and intervention outcome after six months was not statistically significant (χ²=0.355, p=0.551). Conclusions: the smoking cessation sessions examined in this study failed to adhere to MI. There was no relationship between adherence to MI and behavioural outcome six months after the intervention, indicating that women who smoke post partum may be a high-risk group for whom specific smoking cessation interventions need to be developed.