Overview
National and regional health policies in recent years have focused on the prevention and treatment of tobacco use. These efforts include the Sirchia Law of January 2005 which prohibits smoking in public places, helping protect non-smokers from secondary smoke damage. However, smoking continues to be defined as a ‘habit’ or ‘vice’ rather than an addiction (diagnostic category F17 of ICD-10), despite being identified by the World Health Organisation as the leading cause of preventable death. International guidelines have described many effective treatments for nicotine addiction, including various forms of counselling, individual or group psychological therapy and drug therapies. In Italy, there are many workers in Tobacco Addiction Treatment Centres, Antismoking Centres, Centres for Quitting Smoking and similar centres by any other name. To date, however, no university qualification has offered specialised training for these professionals working in the field of nicotine addiction treatment. This course therefore intends to help fill the gap, aiming to expand participants’ theoretical knowledge and technical expertise in nicotine addiction treatment, with particular focus on scientifically-based interventions.
