Monitoring
Patients attempting to stop smoking are at a high risk for relapse. Only about 3% to 5% of smokers stopping on their own achieve prolonged continuous abstinence, usually defined as 6-12 months of not smoking. The highest risk of relapse is within 8 days of the stop attempt. Therefore, behavioural support should focus on that first week of a stop attempt.[209]
If the smoker does not succeed on a stop attempt, it should not be viewed as a failure but as a learning experience.
The motivational intervention should be repeated every time an unmotivated patient visits the clinic setting. Tobacco users who have been unsuccessful in previous stop attempts should be told that most people make repeated stop attempts before they are successful.
The circumstances of the relapse should be reviewed and new strategies, and alternative or additional pharmacotherapy, should be tried.[2][73]
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