Q: Can you tell me more about the specialty modules and who they are aimed at?
A: The NCSCT is developing two specialty modules, in pregnancy and the post partum and in mental health, based upon identified and evidence-based behaviour change techniques. They contain specific information on the additional considerations and challenges that need to be met in order to support clients in these groups, and include supplementary reference information and practice questions.
The specialty modules have been written for us by leading clinical and academic experts. They are both add-ons to the NCSCT Training and Assessment Programme – and stop smoking practitioners will need to have passed the Stage 1 and Stage 2 assessments in order to have access to them. The specialty modules include an assessment, with certification, and practitioners who have passed these assessments will be listed within the certification area of our website.
Q: Will the NCSCT specialty modules include face-to-face training?
At the moment there is no face-to-face element to the specialty modules, although this may be developed in the future.
Q. Will you be doing training that focuses on groups?
A: We have identified the competences (knowledge and skills) required to deliver effective smoking cessation interventions for both individual and group interventions. We have based our online training and assessment programme around these, including an extensive practice section.
The NCSCT Training Standard also lists these competences as learning outcomes for any training of smoking cessation practitioners (in group or individual contexts).
Our face-to-face skills-based training courses focus on individual interventions. This is not because we do not recognise the increased effectiveness of group interventions, it is purely recognition that less than 3% of smokers setting a quit date with NHS Stop Smoking Services do so in groups. A specialty module for group treatment may be developed in the future, but we will make our decision on this based upon anticipated demand and the reception the two specialist modules currently under development (pregnancy and mental health) get from the field.
Q: Will the NCSCT be providing training in ‘alternative’ approaches to smoking cessation such as hypnotherapy and acupuncture?
A: No. The NCSCT’s Training Programmes will focus only on treatment approaches with clear evidence of efficacy according to the research literature.
Department of Health guidance, which is included in the Local Stop Smoking Service: Service Delivery and Monitoring Guidance is renewed annually and updated in line with the research literature. It looks to NICE and the wider academic community for guidance as to which products and services should be provided to smokers who want to stop with NHS support.