Author Description

This report addresses issues pertaining to the characteristics of a subgroup of women who smoke during pregnancy and have been identified as being hard to reach, and to the strategies for recruiting them into cessation interventions. The report represents a literature review and a telephone survey designed to uncover published studies not identified in computer searches. It begins with an overview of smoking during pregnancy and a brief description of the methods used in conducting the review. The next section comprises the literature review, covering four main themes: issues related to identifying the characteristics of hard- to-reach pregnant smokers; determinants of smoking among the hard-to-reach; findings from studies of cessation interventions which included hard-to-reach pregnant smokers; and findings from studies that evaluated the effectiveness of interventions to recruit hard-to-reach pregnant smokers. The subsequent section provides key recommendations in terms of intervention issues, research, and practice issues. The appendix includes annotations of key studies relevant to the review objectives.