Smoking
Tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of disease and death; cessation at any age significantly reduces health risk.
Test items hinge on matching the intervention to the client’s stage of change: the highest-yield trap gives a smoker who says “I’m not interested in quitting” (precontemplation), where the correct action is to express concern and offer information (the 5 R’s), not hand out a patch or set a quit date. When a client is ready, assess readiness before assisting, and favor a brief, nonjudgmental statement over a lecture. Know that bupropion (Zyban) and varenicline once carried boxed warnings for neuropsychiatric effects, but the FDA removed them in 2016 (some question banks still teach the old warning); also, using NRT while still smoking is now considered safe.
The classic confusion is treating smoking as a standalone diagnosis rather than a modifiable lifestyle behavior. Counseling is the method (motivational interviewing) you deliver it through; smoking cessation is the behavior targeted. For prevention levels, cessation counseling is usually primary prevention (changing behavior before disease), shifting to secondary/tertiary once smoking-related disease appears — and teaching teens never to start is primary.
PlayPrepHQ study notes are written and reviewed against primary exam sources. How we create & review content →