The effectiveness of interventions to establish smoke-free homes in pregnancy and in the neonatal period: a systematic review.

This review considers the effectiveness of interventions to encourage the establishment of smoke-free homes during pregnancy and the neonatal period. A comprehensive search of the literature was undertaken to find relevant studies via electronic databases, citations and reference lists of included studies. The searches identified 17 papers that met the inclusion criteria. These were quality assessed and data extracted. Due to heterogeneity of the papers, a narrative synthesis was completed. Interventions were categorized in terms of those based on counselling, counselling plus additional elements, individually adapted programmes and motivational interviewing. The findings suggest inconclusive evidence relating to these intervention types, with a range of outcome measures reported. There were limitations throughout the papers in terms of study quality (especially sample size) and poor reporting of results in relation to effectiveness. The review was limited by its very specific population; however, it suggests that currently there is mixed evidence for the effectiveness of interventions to reduce parental environmental tobacco smoke in early infancy.