Innovations
StopLite to Smoking
Researchers Aim to Reduce Dangerous Habit
by David Peregrino and Laura Ruelas
NOVA Summer 2007
 | | The PATCH team created anti-smoking posters for distribution around campus. |
Maybe you’ve enjoyed a cigarette or two while hanging out with friends at the club, or needed a relaxing smoke after a rough day at work. A cigarette now and then can’t hurt.
Or can it?
Even light smokers are at risk for deadly illnesses, says Ted Cooper, supervisor of the Prevention and Treatment in Clinical Health lab in the Department of Psychology at UTEP.
Cooper and his team of researchers in the PATCH lab, as it is known, investigate methods of disease prevention and health promotion, with an eye on issues such as sedentary behavior, diet and tobacco use. Many of their projects focus on Hispanics in the El Paso and Juárez area.
One major initiative of the lab is StopLite, a program aimed at helping light smokers at UTEP and across the Paso del Norte region kick the habit before it turns serious. StopLite is funded by grants totaling $170,500 from A Smoke Free Paso del Norte, an initiative of the Paso del Norte Health Foundation.
“We’re trying to uncover the issues behind this habit, in order to help people quit, get healthy, and ultimately save lives,” says Cooper.
Smoking Risks
- Coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease
- Strained respiratory quality, such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath
- Cancers of the bladder, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, cervix, kidney, lung, pancreas, and stomach, and causes acute myeloid leukemia
- Women who smoke before or during pregnancy increase their risk for adverse reproductive outcomes such as infertility or having a low-birth-weight baby.
| Benefits of Quitting
- Oxygen level in your blood increases to normal and carbon monoxide level drops to normal
- Reduce the risk of a heart attack
- Body is free of nicotine, allowing bronchial tubes to relax, making it easier to breathe.
- Risk of lung cancer decreases
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Recent research reveals the dangers of casual smoking. A 2005 study of more than 42,000 adults in Norway over the course of 30 years found that light smokers, defined as people who smoked one to four cigarettes daily, were three times as likely to die from heart disease than were nonsmokers. Men were more than three times as likely to die from lung cancer, and women were five times more likely to succumb to lung cancer.
StopLite uses counseling, behavioral and health therapies, and person-to-person contact to educate participants on the health benefits of quitting.
The smokers participate in an hour-long intervention which includes an assessment of the problem, counseling and education, and a test measuring the level of carbon monoxide in their blood.
A high level of carbon monoxide displaces oxygen in the bloodstream, thickening the blood and making it difficult for the heart to pump blood and oxygen around the body.
“Part of the intervention is to provide feedback to participants about their (carbon monoxide) levels, with hopes that sharing health-related information will help them recognize that smoking has health consequences,” says Cooper.
The group also creates media campaigns to get its message across. With the help of focus groups and student graphic designers, the PATCH team created anti-smoking posters that are placed around campus.
With the help of the UTEP Student Health Center, PATCH signed up 258 students to participate in the cessation program. The students said they smoked to manage their weight, relieve stress and to feel included in social settings.
More than 40 percent of them estimated they smoked at least one cigarette per day, and considered themselves light smokers. Thirty percent said they smoked one to six cigarettes per week, while the rest of the group said they smoked even less per month.
Preliminary results are encouraging: 41 percent of the participants reported decreasing their smoking after one month; and two months later, the number rose to 47 percent.
“I have not been smoking for about three months now and I feel great. I appreciate their help and concern,” said a StopLite participant whose name is being kept confidential.
Amalia Dudzienski, director of the Student Health Center, is hopeful the continued partnership will raise awareness and help reduce smoking.
“I hope it reiterates the fact that smoking is not healthy, that there are consequences. I’ve seen the results from their efforts and I’m happy that many people have either quit or reduced their intake,” says Dudzienski.
The PATCH lab offers nearly a dozen undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to participate in research and health promotion programs such as StopLite.
“The lab is a great work environment filled with amazing people,” says graduate student Julie Blow. “We have a great opportunity to shed light on issues that have long been overlooked with the (Hispanic) population. Our field allows us to take already researched issues and develop a new take on things, and help the underserved.”
The reward for the PATCH lab staff is seeing people improve their lives via quality health education. In the case of StopLite, Cooper says it is plain facts, and not scare tactics, that to help people understand the risks of casual smoking.
“A lot of times they just need to be informed, educated, and it turns the light on for them,” says Cooper. “They learn it’s never too late to quit.” N
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