Background:
Smoking cessation during pregnancy and postpartum period by both women and their partners offers multiple health benefits. However, compared to pregnant/post-partum women, their partners are less likely to actively seek smoking cessation services. There is an increased recognition about the importance of tailored approaches to smoking cessation for expectant and new fathers. While Behavior Change Interventions (BCIs) are a promising approach for smoking cessation, evidence on its effectiveness exclusively among expectant and new fathers is fragmented and does not allow for many firm conclusions to be drawn.

Objective:
To conduct a systematic review on effectiveness of BCIs on smoking cessation outcomes offered to expectant and new fathers (child <1 year) both through individual and/or couple-based interventions.

Methods:
Peer reviewed articles were identified from eight databases. Two reviewers independently conducted screening, data extraction and quality assessment.

Results:
Of the 1222 studies identified, 9 RCTs (involving 4681 men) were included in the study. The intervention targets were mixed, with 5 studies targeting expectant/new fathers, 3 targeting couples and 1 primarily targeting women with intervention component to men. While the follow up measurements for men varied within the studies, majority of studies reported biochemically verified quit rates at 6 months. Most of the interventions were found to be effective and showed small effects on cessation outcomes. BCI approaches in interventions were heterogenous across studies. Findings are suggestive of gender specific interventions being more likely to have positive outcomes.

Conclusions:
This review suggests that use of the BCI approach for smoking cessation among expectant and new fathers is effective. However, more studies are needed to strengthen the evidence base to inform policy and practice. Further, there is a need to identify how smoking cessation service delivery can better address the needs of (both) gender(s) during pregnancy – ‘an opportune time for offering smoking cessation interventions’.