Multimedia smoking cessation program

Research performed by The Oregon Center for Applied Science

Funded by the National Cancer Institute

Scientist(s): John Noell, PhD, Lynne Swartz, MPH, CHES, Dennis Ary, PhD
Scientist link(s) take you to The Oregon Center for Applied Science Web site.

Smoking is undeniably one of the greatest threats to health and well being. Smokers have higher rates of heart disease, cancer, and respiratory ailments. As compared with nonsmokers, they miss more days of work, spend more days in the hospital, and have a greatly reduced capacity to exercise and breathe deeply. Despite these drawbacks, addiction to tobacco is strong. Although a large proportion of smokers want to quit, only 8% are able to do so on their own without some form of assistance.

The multimedia program 1-2-3 Smokefree is designed to mimic a visit with a smoking-cessation counselor. The program uses video and animation to present the benefits of quitting and offers tips and strategies for breaking the addiction, coping with triggers to smoke, handling cravings, and getting social support. Viewers are encouraged to set a quit date and identify strategies they would like to use to help them get past the difficult hurdles of smoking cessation. After creating their plan, they are encouraged to return to the program for additional support and information as they go through the quitting process.

1-2-3 Smokefree tailors advice not only to the user’s smoking patterns and social situation (e.g., living with other smokers, having children in the house), but presents the information with videos of demographically matched people talking about what they did to successfully quit smoking. Studies reveal that people are more likely to remember and believe a health message delivered by someone who is like themselves (age, gender, race) than by someone who is not. Drawing upon this research, 1-2-3 Smokefree includes in its initial survey questions about age, race, and gender and then has the program deliver health messages from video characters who are a match on at least two, if not all three, counts.

1-2-3 Smokefree was evaluated in a randomized clinical trial through a worksite health promotion program that included 416 employees. Half the participants were given immediate access to the program, and the remaining half were required to wait for three months. Three months after their first visit, 16% of those who saw the program were no longer smoking cigarettes as compared with 5% of those who were able to quit on their own without benefit of 1-2-3 Smokefree. If the average national unassisted quit rate is 8%, then those who saw the program were twice as likely to kick the habit as those who were not given access. Analyzing only the results of those who entered the study emotionally committed to quitting (the 197 who said they intended to quit within the next 30 days), 24% of those who saw the program were successful three months later versus 8% of those who did not see the program. On the basis of this data, using the 1-2-3 Smokefree program appears to increase by 200 to 300% the chances a smoker will quit smoking cigarettes.