Center for Tobacco Treatment Research and Training (CTTRT) Blog

As tobacco treatment specialists, our goal is to improve the quality of life of individuals by assisting them to quit smoking. Having a good understanding of the health consequences of tobacco use and the benefits of quitting will help you in your work with patients and clients. Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) developed a handout that shows how smoking can damage many parts of the body.  Click on the picture (on the left) to download and print the handout. This is a good resource that can serve as a reminder of how smoking affects different body systems and organs. You could also share this handout with your patients or clients when you talk to them about quitting smoking. Read more >>

Tobacco use causes over 6 million deaths per year worldwide and leads to hundreds of billions of dollars spent for medical costs and lost productivity. Effective, evidence-based treatment services for tobacco dependence such as those recommended by US Public Health Service's Clinical Guidelines: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update exist but are not always accessible to tobacco users. While many factors impact the availability and accessibility of treatment, one important factor needed to provide such services is the presence of skilled tobacco treatment professionals/Tobacco Treatment Specialist (TTS). Read more >> 

Since 2016, Tobacco Treatment Specialist (TTS) training program offered by Center for Tobacco Treatment Research and Training has been sponsored and conducted by OneBreath and Society for Respiratory Care in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  The TTS training is offered to all health care providers who work with smokers or those seeking a career in tobacco treatment specialty.  UMass TTS program trained more than 13 Saudi tobacco program directors who conduct TTS trainings in different health care sectors and regions of Saudi Arabia. Read more >>

Prior to 2005, the smoking cessation program at Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia was centered around corporate and community health fairs; aligning with national and international tobacco control events rather than on an established need. The health fairs aimed at providing information and answering questions only. Medical literature has shown that health fairs are ineffective in initiating and sustaining behavior change. Read more >>

It might sound strange, but that’s the question that I asked when I did my first smoking cessation study almost a decade ago to test if mindfulness training could help  people quit. Spoiler alert: we found  that it was five times better than a  well-established, standardized in-person program. Read more >>

Most adolescent smokers want to quit and try to quit smoking.  However, very few get help, success is rare, and interventions that do exist require lots of in-person time.  So what might be attractive to teen smokers who want to quit?  What about an app that teaches them mindfulness? Read more >>