A new study suggests that motivational interviewing in addition to standard education and awareness program lowers second-hand smoke exposure among children living in those households.
Researchers explain that motivational interviewing is a counseling strategy that became popular for treating alcoholics. The technique has a patient-centered counseling approach and motivates people to change behaviors.
Experts state that motivational interviewing is complete contrast to externally driven tactics instead of favoring to work with patients by acknowledging how difficult change is.
Researchers of this study said that care givers of children who receive motivational interviewing along the awareness about the risks of smoking were more likely than a comparison group to set up home smoking bans while reducing harmful secondhand smoke exposure, as measured by air nicotine levels in the homes.
"The lowered secondhand smoke exposure in the motivational interviewing group is important, because children in Head Start communities are at high risk for asthma and other disorders linked to such exposure," said report lead author Michelle N. Eakin, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in the press release.
"We know from this study that people can change behavior, but to do so, raising awareness and educating them is not enough."
"We've demonstrated the effectiveness of a practical intervention for a vulnerable population," Eakin added.
The study, "Effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing to Reduce Head Start Children's Secondhand Smoke Exposure", is published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
