Barriers and facilitators of maintained smoking abstinence following release from smoke-free prisons: A qualitative enquiry

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of smoking among people entering prisons is high. Despite increasing adoption of prison smoke-free policies, relapse to smoking after release from prison is nearly universal, and policy to effectively mitigate this is largely absent. Informed by a risk environment framework, we aimed to identify key barriers and facilitators to maintaining smoking abstinence among former smokers released from smoke-free prisons. Method: Twenty-one people released from smoke-free prisons in Queensland, Australia, were followed up from a larger survey of 114 former prisoners. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the perceived barriers and facilitators of maintained smoking..