While brief counselling interventions have been identified as successful ifor adults when delivered by physicians, this cannot be extrapolated to adults as parents in child health settings. However, there is limited support for more intensive counselling interventions for parents in such contexts. There is no clear evidence of differences between the respiratory, non-respiratory ill child, well child and peripartum settings as contexts for reduction of children's ETS exposure.
The impact of a brief intervention on maternal smoking behavior.
To determine if mothers receiving a smoking cessation intervention emphasizing health risks of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) for their children have a higher quit rate than 1) mothers receiving routine smoking cessation advice or 2) a control group.
                Randomized, controlled trial.
                Primary care center in a large urban children's hospital.
                Four hundred seventy-nine mothers were randomly assigned to a smoking cessation intervention either aimed at their child's health or their own health, or to a control group receiving safety information.
                Smoking status, stage of change, cigarettes/day, location smoking occurred, and knowledge of ETS effects.
                Complete data (baseline and both follow-ups) were available for 166 subjects. There was no impact of group assignment on the quit rate, cigarettes/day, or stage of change. The Child Health Group intervention had a sustained effect on location where smoking reportedly occurred (usually outside) and on improved knowledge of ETS effects.
                Further research is needed to devise more effective methods of using the pediatric health care setting to influence adult smoking behaviors.