Nursing research and treatment of tobacco dependence: state of the science.

Tobacco use is considered to be the single most preventable cause of premature morbidity and mortality among men and women. It is well documented that tobacco cessation reduces the burden of disease significantly and is cost effective. Efficacious therapy for tobacco dependence exists, and nurses have been shown to be effective tobacco cessation interventionists. Given the large number of nurses in the United States, nurses can influence national health objectives of reduced tobacco use significantly and help to decrease the number of adults at risk for tobacco-attributable disease and death. The objectives of this presentation are to (a) describe the scientific evidence for tobacco cessation interventions, based on the U.S. clinical practice guideline Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence; (b) present the meta-analytic findings of the efficacy of nursing interventions for smoking cessation; (c) discuss barriers to nursing research and tobacco interventions; and (d) provide future directions for nursing intervention research.