Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #109763

Donna Shelley, MD, MPH¹, Brenda Merritt, MD², Ana Stefancic¹, and Ruchi Mital². (1) Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, 722 West 168th St, New York, NY 10028, 212-305-0068, drs26@columbia.edu, (2) Project Renewal, 200 Varick St, 9th floor, New York, New York, NY 10014

Tobacco use continues to be the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, accounting for an estimated 440,000 deaths per year nationwide. And while surveys indicate that 23.3% of adults in the general US are current smokers, 86% of the homeless adult population currently smokes. Homelessness exposes individuals to constant health threats. Substance abuse further compounds this vulnerability. These multiple risk factors, combined with the difficulties homeless people experience in accessing health care, make addressing tobacco smoking of utmost concern. Project Renewal Inc., is a not-for-profit organization that provides New York City's chronically homeless population with outreach, primary care, mental health care, substance abuse treatment, employment services, and housing. Project Renewal operates a residential modified therapeutic community, Renewal on the Bowery, for 200 homeless men. In this nine-month program, residents work in stages toward health, sobriety, housing, and jobs. This study used self-reporting to determine the characteristics of tobacco use among a homeless population prior to designing and implementing a cessation intervention. It examined tobacco use behaviors of 103 homeless clients enrolled in Project Renewal's substance abuse recovery program at Renewal on the Bowery, including smoking and cessation activity, readiness to quit, perception of harm from smoking, and purchasing patterns. Based on the study's findings, the authors implemented a highly successful smoking cessation intervention as part of substance abuse treatment for homeless clients. This is an example of a study effectively put into practice.

Learning Objectives:

• To better understand characteristics of tobacco use among a homeless population in substance abuse treatment.
• To provide recommendations for designing and implementing an effective cessation intervention for this population.
• To design and implement an effective smoking cessation intervention in this population.

Keywords: Homelessness, Smoking Cessation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.