Smoking Cessation Services in Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment: Opportunities Missed?

The majority of adolescents receiving substance abuse treatment also use tobacco, yet there are few data regarding the adoption of tobacco use assessment and smoking cessation services by adolescent treatment programs. Using data from a national sample of adolescent-only treatment programs (n = 154), this research measures the adoption of aspects of assessment and treatment from the Public Health Service's (2000) guideline, Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence. When adoption of four intake/assessment practices was measured, adoption appeared high, but only 45% of programs had adopted all four practices. About 43% of programs offered some type of smoking cessation services. However, there was no association between adoption of intake procedures and the odds of availability of smoking cessation services, suggesting a lack of connection between the identification of treatment needs and the availability of services. The lack of smoking cessation services may represent a missed opportunity for early intervention with this population.