Telephone counseling for smoking cessation: What's in a call?

Telephone counseling for smoking cessation has been gaining popularity as studies have demonstrated its efficacy. What comprises a successful program, however, has not yet been detailed in the literature. In this article, an innovative telephone counseling intervention for smoking cessation is described, with attention to the clinical issues of client assessment, motivation, self-efficacy, planning, coping, relapse-sensitive call scheduling, and sell-image. Counselor training and supervision issues, ethical and legal considerations regarding this form of service delivery, and suggestions for future direction also are outlined.