The use of Motivational Interviewing to Determine Smoking Cessation Readiness: Literature Review

Smoking continues to be one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States. It costs Americans billions of dollars yearly with over half of that being related to healthcare costs. As the number of smokers decreases in the Midwest, it still remains high above the national average of 15.5% (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Evidence shows that people who desire to quit make multiple attempts before they are successful. Multiple articles show counseling methods like motivational interviewing can help individuals find personal reasons to quit and remain abstinent from smoking cigarettes. This project used three tools to determine the level of readiness, nicotine dependence, and self-efficacy. The tools are Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence, the Smoking Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, and the readiness ruler. This project aimed to determine the impact that motivational interviewing could have in helping to decrease in nicotine dependence, increase in self-efficacy, and an increase in readiness to quit smoking. The project showed no significant statistical significance, but did show a decrease in nicotine dependence, increase in self-efficacy, and no change in smoking cessation readiness