Real world evaluation of the smoking cessation services in the Rio de Janeiro municipality, Brazil.

INTRODUCTION: In recent years, there has been a growing recommendation for process evaluation of the smoking cessation programmes in the world. This study sought to evaluate smoking cessation services, with special attention to the degree to which public health care facilities adhere to governmental standards of practice.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study examined smoking cessation services by using a key-informant approach. All the services that delivered smoking cessation treatment in 2013 at the National Health System of the Rio de Janeiro municipality, Brazil, were included in the study. The treatment consists of group sessions and pharmacotherapy. Compliance with the standards of inputs, activities, and short-term outcomes was analysed. A descriptive analysis was performed using means and standard deviations for the continuous variables and absolute and relative frequencies for the categorical variables.

RESULTS: Of the 177 services performing smoking cessation treatment in 2013, a total of 81.9% answered the questionnaire. More than 90% of the services met the infrastructure standards. Behavioural approach and pharmacotherapy were available in more than 99% of the services. Of a total of 11 287 patients aged 18 years or older who registered for treatment, 77.6% received tobacco cessation interventions during the first group session. Among those who had access to treatment, 52.8% were not smoking at the fourth group session.

CONCLUSION: Even though more than 20% of the patients did not attend the first group session, the access to treatment was high, and it was observed that the success rate of those who attended the fourth group session was more than 50%.