Featured Interventionist

Linda Lillington, RN, DNSc

Nurse tobacco cessation interventionists were represented by Dr. Linda Lillington in Washington D.C. when she spoke to a national audience about the effectiveness of nurse-managed tobacco cessation interventions. Dr. Lillington was invited by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to present a lecture entitled "Making it Work: Examples from the Field - Nurses" at the 1996 AHCPR [now Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)] Smoking Cessation Guidelines - Goals and Impact two-day conference this past September.

Linda received her bachelor of science degree in nursing from Pennsylvania State University in 1974 and a master of nursing degree with a major in oncology from UCLA in 1977. Prior to obtaining her doctoral degree in nursing science at UCLA in 1994,

Dr. Lillington served as a Research Associate at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California. While conducting research, Linda also maintained a position as Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing at the University of Southern California. During the 1980’s Linda practiced as an oncology clinical nurse specialist at UC-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Currently, Dr. Lillington is a postdoctoral research fellow at Harbor-UCLA.

Among her numerous past research projects, Dr. Lillington was funded by the National Cancer Institute to conduct a study entitled " Smoking Cessation in Poor Black Pregnant Women". The project developed and tested culturally appropriate low literacy, smoking cessation intervention materials for low-income Hispanic and African-American women. The research team, led by Lillington, developed an intervention entitled "Time for a Change", which relied on a number of proven behavioral cessation approaches. Previous American Lung Association and American Health Foundation programs served as foundations for the current intervention. Four major components of the program were:

1. a one-on-one counseling session, performed by bilingual counselors (Spanish and English) that provided risk information and quit smoking messages;
2. a self-help guide that relied on behavior-change techniques
3. reinforcement by follow-up booster cards
4. incentive contests (inexpensive baby items such as clothing, disposable diapers and blankets)

Specifically, all program participants were asked to select a quit date and identify a significant other as a "buddy". The smoking cessation intervention had a positive impact on both quit-smoking behavior during pregnancy and relapse prevention postpartum. Self-reported quit rates at 9 month gestation were 43% for the intervention group, compared to 24.7% among control group participants. At 6 weeks postpartum, twice as many intervention group participants had not resumed smoking, as compared to control group women (25.3% vs. 11.6%). The completed study can be found in Cancer Practice (1995, Volume 3, Number 3, pp. 157-163).

The Nursing Center for Tobacco Intervention congratulates Dr. Lillington for her valuable contribution to tobacco cessation efforts among pregnant women and is pleased to name her our Feature Interventionist.

View Previous Featured Interventionists

• Janie Heath, RN, PhD(c), CCRN, ANP, ACNP
• Mary Ellen Wewers, RN, PhD, MPH, FAAN
• Louise M. Nett, RN, RRT
• Linda Lillington, RN, DNS
• Patricia G. Rienzo, RN, MSN
• Linda Sarna, RN, DNSc, FAAN
• Kathleen O' Connell, RN, PhD, FAAN
• Karen Ahijevych, RN, PhD