Chestnut Global Partners (CGP) and CS2day Partner to Deploy Smoking Cessation Program in China
Bloomington, IL (PRWEB) April 08, 2014 -- Chestnut Global Partners (CGP), a leading EAP provider with an established practice in China, today announces a partnership with Cease Smoking Today (CS2day), an education initiative designed to provide physicians and health care professionals with effective and clinically relevant strategies that increase smoking quit rates. The partnership will leverage CGP's established infrastructure in China and introduce a culturally-attuned version of CS2day's smoking cessation program. The project will focus on four major components: localization of the materials and resources, counselor education, service delivery and program evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the program.
According to the World Health Organization's Global Adult Tobacco Survey, China has 301 million smokers. Despite the country's effort to control and reduce smoking, there has been almost no reduction in the male smoking rate from 2002 to 2010, and the smoking rate among young women had actually increased. Many people in the country are unaware of or are unclear about the impact of first and secondhand smoking on their health; awareness of the harm of smoking is inadequate even among health care providers, hindering their ability to play an active and effective role in smoking cessation.
"As more Chinese companies provide EAP services as a prepaid benefit to help employees and their families with a variety of personal concerns that may negatively affect job performance, we have a well-established infrastructure to deliver a culturally-attuned smoking cessation program," said Dr. Li Peizhong, scientist with CGP's China office. "Introducing education and intervention programs that have been proven effective in the United States, and placing them in a Chinese cultural and business context, will increase awareness of the health implications of smoking, and steadily promote cessation across all segments of Chinese society."
"Smoking is an addiction and quitting can be assisted by medical personnel and other health care providers," said Chris Larrison, Project Manager with CS2day. "We look forward to working with CGP, particularly given their experience in delivering programs in China that leverage local expertise and resources. Implementing this program in China will contribute toward the CS2day initiative goal of increasing smoking quit rates by assisting clinicians in delivering evidenced-based smoking cessation strategies."
CGP will promote the program to client companies to launch a new smoking cessation service. CGP account managers and counselors will provide information about the service in routine Employee Assistance Program (EAP) promotion materials and will circulate information among employees of the selected client companies. These activities will increase the awareness among potential clients and motivate them to seek help in smoking cessation. The information will also include detailed direction on how to use the well-established and familiar 24/7 EAP hotline to access cessation assistance.
The intervention will follow best practices established in the US Public Health Service Guideline Clinical Practice Guideline: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence 2008 Update, with cultural modifications. Post-intervention assessment will be completed 90 days after the conclusion of the intervention to assess sustained impact. Quit rates as the percentage of clients who became and remained abstinent during the treatment and 90-day follow up period as well as changes in the level of tobacco reliance will be reported. The final report will be completed by Q1 2015.
This project is funded by an independent educational grant from Pfizer, Inc.
About Chestnut Global Partners
Chestnut Global Partners (CGP) has been providing Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and related workplace wellness services since 1984. In 2000, CGP developed capabilities outside the U.S., beginning in Brazil and now has native/host country EAPs and international networks covering over 125 countries, as well as equity-interest joint ventures in Brazil, China, Mexico, Russia, India and Native America. CGP directly provides global EAP services to 174 western multinational employer clients although each of our Joint Ventures has their own book of indigenous, in-country based employer business. Our capabilities have allowed us to provide services in a range of locations, whether they are large urban settings or remote locations such as the deserts of Mongolia, the Ural Mountains of Russia, or the world’s largest cities such as Beijing, Sao Paulo, or Mexico City. Some of our multi-national customers include Caterpillar, ConocoPhillips, Archer Daniels Midland, and Habitat for Humanity, to name a few.
Psychcn-Chestnut Global Partners (PCGP) is an established and leading EAP provider in China. PCGP employs 30 full-time, in-house counselors and 116 affiliate counselors located in 36 cities throughout China. These professionals provide mental and behavioral health counseling and workshop facilitation for client employees. They are licensed to provide psychological counseling in China and their amount of experiences exceeds the local standard. They also receive professional supervision, including regular supervision from Chestnut Global Partners' U.S. team. With promotion of health and well-being as a major component of their professional activities, the PCGP counselors are in a good position to engage tobacco users in a cessation program.
PCGP's clients include large Chinese and multinational companies, serving approximately 180,000 employees throughout China. This large pool of clients will provide the participants to the CS2day program. Many of PCGP's clients have a keen interest in improving workplace health, thus will grant PCGP considerable assistance in promoting smoking cessation services among their employees. For more, visit http://www.chestnutglobalpartners.org.
About Cease Smoking Today (CS2day)
Cease Smoking Today (CS2day) is a multiorganizational education initiative designed to provide physicians and health care professionals with effective and clinically relevant strategies targeted to increase the smoking quit rates for patients followed in multiple practice settings. The CS2day project began in the United States in 2007 to disseminate information from the Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence 2008 Update. The initial educational effort reached more than 43,000 clinicians from all 50 states and 10 foreign countries via certified education and derivative resources consisting of more than 130 live activities, four comprehensive performance improvement projects, 15 enduring activities, three educational exhibits, and a toolkit comprised of 83 educational resources. Outcomes demonstrated changes in knowledge, behavior, and patient health proving that multifaceted education can impact public health.
Charles Epstein, BackBone, http://www.backboneinc.com, (561) 470-0965, [email protected]
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