Subtheme 3.2: Service‐level barriers to integrated treatment
Some participants described how the length of time between appointments was too long and appointments were needed more frequently. Some participants described how there was a lot of content to fit into the appointments, which were often quite short. One participant described how they could sense their session was coming to an end as they felt their therapist was getting ‘stressed trying to fit everything into their appointment’.
One participant described how it felt ‘strange’ going from mental health to smoking cessation treatment. Another described how they felt that the smoking cessation treatment was an ‘add on’ and suggested scheduling smoking cessation treatment separately would allow them to give it ‘more emphasis, more thought and importance’.
One participant also described their integrated treatment as ‘scripted’ and ‘unnatural’. Some participants described how setting clear objectives and an agenda with their therapist at the start of their session helped with the integration of the smoking cessation and IAPT treatment.