Analysis on current status and the evaluation criteria of smoking cessation clinics in China

Background To understand the current situation of Chinese smoking cessation clinics and the situation of smokers who went to the clinic. To develop a grading sheet for the evaluation criteria for smoking cessation clinic. Methods The data were collected by the registration and regular follow-up questionnaires which were finished by medical workers from smoking cessation clinics. Combine the questionnaire and interview results, as well as the discussing results from experts, the initial evaluation index for smoking cessation clinic could be formed. Third, Delphi method was used to revise the system and obtain score of each index in the system. Results 1. Among the 55 smoking cessation clinics which reported the one month follow-up data, there are only 7 clinics (12.73%) reached the goal that registers are more than 200. The one-month continuous quitting rate was 19.11% and three-month continuous quitting rate was 8.16%. 2. The qualitative interviews study constructed a three-level evaluation index system of the smoking cessation clinic which is built on indicators of support, implement, and outcome. Then the system was revised by Delphi method. It contained three indicators of first-level, twenty-two indicators of second level and twenty-six indicators of third-level, then the weighting of each index is calculated. The experts participated in conducting this study had high activity and authority in their aspects. The indicators score of support, implement, and outcome are 0.86, 0.87 and 0.84 respectively. And all of them are higher than 0.80. The evaluation index is proved reasonable. Conclusions Currently, our country's smoking cessation clinics are still in the primary stage. The attention from responsible persons at all levels, the support of policy and funding. The construction of the three-level evaluation criteria system of the smoking cessation clinic which is built on indicators of support, implement, and outcome is reasonable