Smoking cessation services and willingness to receive quitting support among people living in prison in Finland.

Introduction: Smoking is frequent among people living in prison (PLIP) yet little is known about smoking cessation support in prison. This study aims to investigate correlates of being offered help for smoking cessation and willingness to receive smoking cessation support among PLIP.

Methods: A cross-sectional, nationally representative study of Finnish PLIP in 2020-2022 was used (N = 529 of whom n = 364 (69%) smoked daily) (response rate 82.5%). Dependent variables included not having been offered help for smoking cessation during the prison time and willingness to receive cessation support. Independent variables included socio-demographic, health- and wellbeing-related, and prison-related variables. Regression analyses were utilised.

Results: Of daily smoking PLIP, 75% were not offered support for smoking cessation. In the multiple adjusted model, women had a higher prevalence of not being offered help for smoking cessation than men. Among men, the use of pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation (vs. never use) or longer imprisonment time (vs. shorter imprisonment time) were associated with a lower prevalence of being offered help for smoking cessation. Among both genders, at least moderate willingness to stop smoking (vs. low) was associated with a higher prevalence of wishing to receive support for smoking cessation, while smoking 11-20 cigarettes per day (vs. 1-10 cigarettes per day) was associated with a higher willingness to receive cessation support among men.

Discussion and conclusions: Smoking cessation support is wanted among PLIP who are willing to quit smoking, while support services should be targeted more for women and for men who have spent relatively little time in prison.