A Better Medway – Level 2 Smoking Cessation and Very Brief Advice (VBA) training

The training course is built around evidence-based behaviour change techniques that provide an understanding of the factors involved in smoking and smoking cessation. The gold-standard training programme has been shown to increase practitioners' knowledge, develop their skills and lead to improved practice in bringing Medway closer to being smokefree by 2030.

Aims:

• To explain the power and complexity of nicotine addiction, using a hearts and minds approach to secure delegate buy-in, illustrating the wide-ranging context associated with smoking – health inequalities, the environment, costs to society and progress made
• To highlight the importance of effective very brief advice (VBA) and the difference it can make to individuals and society
• To equip delegates to provide fully effective end-to-end support to smoking cessation delegates from first meeting, through establishing tobacco dependence, product selection, quit planning, problem solving and adopting a non-smoker identity, focusing on the top seven aspects of a stop smoking intervention which support successful quitting

Objectives:

• Conduct Very Brief Advice (VBA)
• Demonstrate conversation skills based on Motivational Interviewing, suitable for use with a quitter
• Carry out Carbon Monoxide testing for a patient
• Discuss the features of products available to support a quit and provide information accordingly to clients
• Identify the agenda for a quit attempt, follow it and prepare the patient/client for what to expect including common problems experienced and how to help plan and problem solve
• Find and utilise key information provided in delegate packs, to support a client through a quit attempt and where else to find support