Engaging patients in tobacco dependence treatment: Assessment and motivational techniques

It is important that behavioral health professionals start to address tobacco use with the seriousness its lethal nature deserves. Despite the evidence, US Public Health Service Council guidelines on treating tobacco use and dependence are typically not followed by clinicians treating patients with behavioral health problems, such as co-occurring mental health or addiction problems. This article aims to: (1) help clinicians identify common assessment measures and questions for use with tobacco-dependent patients; (2) Describe the stages of change in relation to quitting smoking; and (3) Describe motivational interviewing and motivational enhancement therapy as strategies for helping motivate smokers to make a quit attempt. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)