Phone-Based Postpartum Continuing Care for Smoking Cessation

PPCC Counselors will make initial contact with participants in the experimental group at 36 weeks gestation (i.e., one week prior to full-term), will call again within one week after the baby's birth, and eight additional times over the course of the first six months postpartum. The PPCC protocol will be developed based on the 5 A's (standard of care during pregnancy) and the Recovery Management Checkup model where relapse is expected and efforts are made to take a more proactive approach to identify women who are having cravings or have relapsed and re-intervene with them as soon as possible to assist them in regaining smoking abstinence. Women in the experimental group will also have the option of calling the PPCC line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

All women will receive the standard of care approach (5 A's and referral to a 24/7 quit line postpartum) from MWC during pregnancy. The 5 A's brief intervention was modified by American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) for use with pregnant women and is recommended to help pregnant women quit smoking. It includes the following steps: Ask about tobacco use, Advise to quit, Assess willingness to make a quit attempt, Assist in quit attempt, and Arrange follow-up.