Effectiveness of Individual and Group Counseling for Cessationof Tobacco Habit Amongst Industrial Workers in Pimpri, Pune– An Interventional Study

Background: In India, tobacco consumption is responsible for one of the highest rates of oral cancer inthe world, the annual oral cancer incidence is steadily increasing among young tobacco users. Studies havedocumented efforts taken by physicians, doctors and even dentists, in the form of individual or group counseling tocurb tobacco use in smoke or smokeless form. However, which one is more effective, still remains an unansweredquestion. The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of individual and group counseling for cessationof the tobacco habit amongst industrial workers in Pune and to compare quit rates. Materials and methods: Aninterventional study design was selected for 150 industrial workers which were stratified randomly into threegroups (control, individual and group counseling groups) and interventions were provided to individual andgroup counseling groups over a period of six months, which were then compared with the control group thatreceived brief intervention at the start of the study.
Results: There was significant difference in the quit rates ofthe participants in the individual counseling group (ICG) and group counseling group (GCG) when comparedat 6 months with the control counseling group (CCG). In the individual counseling group was 6% while in groupcounseling group it was 7.5% after six months of counseling.
Conclusions: No conclusion could be drawn whetherindividual or group counseling were better interms of quit rates. Individual and group counseling groups weredefinitely better than the control group when compared at 3 and 6 months, respectively.