Cochrane review: training health professionals in smoking cessation

This 2026 review provides strong evidence that investing in training healthcare professionals in evidence-based smoking cessation interventions leads to measurable improvements in patient quit outcomes.

The review looked at brief forms of training such as VBA+ and higher intensity training. The reviews main findings include:

• High-certainty evidence supports the effectiveness of training health professionals in smoking cessation when compared with no training (risk ratio 1.34, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.67).
• The evidence suggests that higher-intensity training may increase smoking cessation compared with lower-intensity training, though confidence intervals were wide and included the potential for no benefit (RR 1.64, 95% CI 0.86 to 3.12).

Click below to access the review.
Training health professionals in smoking cessation