Motivational interviewing telephone counseling to increase postpartum maintenance of abstinence from tobacco

Although many women quit smoking while pregnant, rates of relapse after delivery are high. We examined the effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI) in maintaining postpartum abstinence from smoking among pregnant women who recently quit smoking (N = 382), randomized to receive five brief MI phone counseling calls or to a prenatal and postpartum care as usual control condition. Relapse to smoking was assessed at 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum based on self-report and urine cotinine. Cox regressions compared conditions on relapse outcomes and hazard ratio of total number of MI calls was examined to probe dose-response effects. Results revealed no difference in the hazard ratio of relapse between treatment condition and no dose-response effect of total number of MI calls. Phone counseling in the prenatal and postpartum period did not facilitate maintenance of abstinence among new mothers. Considerations for future intervention development studies on relapse prevention during the postpartum period are discussed.