Novel incentives and messaging in an online college smoking intervention.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Berg CJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4302730 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Novel incentives and messaging in an online college smoking intervention.
Berg Carla J CJ Stratton Erin E Sokol Michael M Santamaria Andrew A Bryant Lawrence L Rodriguez Rolando R
American journal of health behavior 20140901 5
<h4>Objectives</h4>To examine the feasibility, acceptability, and potential effectiveness of an online intervention targeting college smokers. The incentives involved discounted or free goods and services from businesses proximal to each campus.<h4>Methods</h4>A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 122 current smokers recruited from 2 Southeastern US universities. The intervention involved health behavior monitoring, targeted messaging, and incentives for healthy goods and services ver ...[more]
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Project description:BackgroundSmoking continues to be a leading risk factor for several diseases globally. We hypothesised that an intervention delivered via text messages could help individuals who were looking to quit.MethodsA two-arm, parallel-groups, randomised controlled trial was employed. Both groups received treatment as usual, with the intervention group also receiving a 12-week text messaging intervention. Participants were adult, weekly or more frequent smokers, recruited online and in primary health care centres. Research personnel were blinded, while participants were not. Primary outcomes were prolonged abstinence and point prevalence of abstinence, 3 and 6 months post-randomisation. All randomised participants were included in analyses.ResultsBetween 18 September 2020 and 16 June 2022, we randomised 1012 participants (intervention: 505, control: 507). Outcome data was available for 67% (n = 682) of participants at 3 months and 64% (n = 643) at 6 months. At 3 months, the odds ratio (OR) of prolonged abstinence was 2.15 (95% compatibility interval [CoI] = 1.51; 3.06, probability of effect [POE] > 99.9%, p < 0.0001), and for point prevalence of abstinence, it was 1.70 (95% CoI = 1.18; 2.44, POE = 99.8%, p = 0.0034) in favour of the text messaging intervention. At 6 months, the OR of prolonged abstinence was 2.38 (95% CoI = 1.62; 3.57, POE > 99.9%, p = < 0.0001), and for point prevalence, it was 1.49 (95% CoI = 1.03; 2.14, POE = 98.3%, p = 0.0349) in favour of the text messaging intervention. Analyses with imputed data were not markedly different.ConclusionsAmongst general population help-seekers-who on average had smoked for 25 years-access to a 12-week text messaging intervention produced higher rates of self-reported smoking abstinence in comparison to treatment as usual only. The intervention could be part of the societal response to the burden which smoking causes; however, findings are limited by risk of bias due to attrition, self-reported outcomes, and lack of blinding.Trial registrationThe trial was preregistered in the ISRCTN registry on 27/07/2020 (ISRCTN13455271).
| S-EPMC10552416 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC6635501 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo test the feasibility of a university health center-delivered smoking cessation intervention that adds a 6-week course of text messaging to brief advice and nicotine patch therapy. Participants: Young adult cigarette smokers (n = 40) from 2 universities from January 2015 to May 2016. Methods: Randomized controlled trial comparing brief advice, nicotine patch therapy and: (1) a 6-week text messaging intervention (n = 20); or (2) no text messaging (n = 20). Primary outcomes included enrollment, retention and satisfaction. Results: Forty participants enrolled (38% of those screened). Retention rates were 98% and 92.5% at 6 and 12 weeks. Of those who completed the text intervention (n = 16), 64.3% felt the texts were "helpful", however they reported desire for tailoring and concern that texts triggered smoking. Biochemically confirmed abstinence rates did not significantly differ between text and control arms. Conclusions: These feasibility data suggest that text messaging may need to be modified to better engage and motivate college-age smokers.
| S-EPMC6995438 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionNeighborhood features such as the density of tobacco outlets relative to one's home and evaluations of safety of one's activity space (routine locations), are known to influence health behaviors. Understanding the time-varying nature of these aspects of the urban ecology provides unique insights into the dynamic interactions of individuals and their environments.MethodsThe present study tested the time-varying effects of tobacco outlets and perceived safety within a randomized controlled trial of an adolescent text-messaging smoking intervention. We used ecological momentary assessment data (EMA) from an automated text-messaging smoking cessation randomized trial with 197 primarily African American urban adolescents. We employed a time-varying effect model to estimate the effects of density of tobacco outlets within one-half mile of participants' home locations (time-invariant covariate) and evaluations of safety of their activity space (time-varying covariate) on momentary smoking over 6 months by treatment condition. The time-varying effect model approach models behavioral change and associations of coefficients expressed dynamically and graphically represented as smooth functions of time.ResultsDifferences in trajectories of smoking between treatment conditions were apparent over the course of the study. During months 2 and 6, the association between tobacco outlet density and smoking was significantly stronger in the control condition, suggesting treatment dampens this association during these time periods. The intervention also significantly reduced the association of perceived safety and smoking among the treatment condition during months 3 through 6.ConclusionsResults support testing the time-varying effects of urban ecological features and perceptions of safety among adolescents in text-based smoking cessation interventions.ImplicationsThis study makes a unique contribution towards understanding the time-varying effects of urban neighborhoods on adolescent tobacco use within the context of a text-delivered intervention. Helping to adjust the long-held conceptualization of intervention effects as a static outcome, to that of a dynamic, time-varying process, is an important contribution of this study. The ability to specify when behavioral change occurs within the context of a randomized control trial provides understanding into the time-varying treatment effects of text-based smoking intervention. For example, researchers can modify the intervention to have strategically timed booster sessions that align with when the odds of smoking begin to increase in order to provide more precise treatment. The current study results show that increasing support to participants during months 2 and 4 may help suppress smoking over the course of a 6-month intervention.
| S-EPMC6596452 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundMobile health tools such as text messaging programs can support smoking cessation. However, high rates of disengagement from these tools decrease their effectiveness.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to identify user characteristics associated with retention in an adult text messaging smoking cessation intervention.MethodsAdults initiating a quit attempt using the publicly available program SmokefreeTXT between March 6 and June 21, 2016 (n=6215), were included. Data were collected to assess nicotine dependence, frequency of being around other smokers, time of the day for cigarette cravings, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to quit smoking, confidence in quitting, and long-term intention to be smoke free. Multivariable survival analysis modeling for time to opt out was conducted to identify characteristics associated with opting out over the course of the intervention, adjusting for age, sex, and smoking frequency, reset of the quit date by the user, and the number of days enrolled before initiating the quit attempt. Among those who opted out, multivariable multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of opting out early (within 3 days and between 4 and 7 days into the quit attempt) compared to opting out late (more than 7 days into the quit attempt), adjusting for the same confounders.ResultsSurvival analyses indicated that younger age, female sex, higher levels of nicotine dependence, lower intention to be smoke free, and enrolling in SmokefreeTXT ≤1 week before initiating the quit attempt were associated with an increased risk of opting out. For example, users who smoked within 5 minutes of waking up were 1.17 times more likely to opt out than those who smoked more than 5 minutes after waking up (95% CI 1.01-1.35). Among users who opted out from SmokefreeTXT, logistic regression modeling indicated that compared to users who were never or rarely around other smokers, those who were sometimes around other smokers had 1.96 times more likely to opt out within the first 3 days of the quit attempt (95% CI 1.18-3.25). In addition, compared to users with high levels of long-term quit intention, users with lower levels of intention had 1.80 times the odds of opting out between 4 and 7 days into the quit attempt (95% CI 1.02-3.18). Users who reset their quit date after initiating a quit attempt were less likely to opt out at either time point compared with those who did not reset their quit date.ConclusionsSeveral user characteristics are associated with retention in an adult text messaging smoking cessation program. These results provide guidance on potential characteristics that should be addressed in future text messaging smoking cessation programs. Providing additional support to users with these characteristics may increase retention in text messaging programs and ultimately lead to smoking cessation.
| S-EPMC6694733 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:China has the highest global prevalence of cigarette smokers, accounting for more than 40% of the total cigarette consumption in the world. Considering the shortage of smoking cessation services in China, and the acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of mobile-phone-based text messaging interventions for quitting smoking in other countries, we conducted a mobile-phone-based smoking cessation study in China. METHODS AND FINDINGS:We conducted a randomized controlled trial in China across 30 cities and provinces from August 17, 2016, to May 27, 2017. Adult smokers aged 18 years and older with the intention to quit smoking were recruited and randomized to a 12-week high-frequency messaging (HFM) or low-frequency messaging (LFM) intervention ("Happy Quit") or to a control group in a 5:2:3 ratio. The control group received only text messages unrelated to quitting. The primary outcome was biochemically verified continuous smoking abstinence at 24 weeks. Secondary outcomes included (1) self-reported 7-day point prevalence of abstinence (i.e., not even a puff of smoke, for the last 7 days) at 1, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 weeks; (2) self-reported continuous abstinence at 4, 12, and 24 weeks; and (3) self-reported average number of cigarettes smoked per day. A total of 1,369 participants received 12 weeks of intervention or control text messages with continued follow-up for 12 weeks. The baseline characteristics of participants among the HFM (n = 674), LFM (n = 284), and control (n = 411) groups were similar. The study sample included 1,295 (94.6%) men; participants had a mean age of 38.1 (SD 9.79) years and smoked an average of 20.1 (SD 9.19) cigarettes per day. We included the participants in an intention-to-treat analysis. Biochemically verified continuous smoking abstinence at 24 weeks occurred in 44/674 participants in the HFM group (6.5%), 17/284 participants in the LFM group (6.0%), and 8/411 participants (1.9%) in the control group; participants in both the HFM (odds ratio [OR] = 3.51, 95% CI 1.64-7.55, p < 0.001) and the LFM (OR = 3.21, 95% CI 1.36-7.54], p = 0.002) intervention groups were more likely to quit smoking than those in the control group. However, there was no difference in quit rate between the HFM and LFM interventions. We also found that the 7-day point quit rate from week 1 to week 24 ranged from approximately 10% to more than 26% with the intervention and from less than 4% to nearly 12% without the intervention. Those who continued as smokers in the HFM group smoked 1 to 3 fewer cigarettes per day than those in the LFM group over the 24 weeks of trial. Among study limitations, the participants were able to use other smoking cessation services (although very few participants reported using them), cotinine tests can only detect smoking status for a few days, and the proportion of quitters was small. CONCLUSIONS:Our findings demonstrate that a mobile-phone-based text messaging intervention (Happy Quit), with either high- or low-frequency messaging, led to smoking cessation in the present study, albeit in a low proportion of smokers, and can therefore be considered for use in large-scale intervention efforts in China. Mobile-phone-based interventions could be paired with other smoking cessation services for treatment-seeking smokers in China. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02693626.
| S-EPMC6298640 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundText message (ie, short message service, SMS) smoking cessation interventions have demonstrated efficacy in high-income countries but are less well studied in low- and middle-income countries, including Vietnam.ObjectiveThe goal of the research is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a fully automated bidirectional SMS cessation intervention adapted for Vietnamese smokers.MethodsThe study was conducted in 3 phases. In phase 1, we adapted the SMS library from US-based SMS cessation programs (ie, SmokefreeTXT and Text2Quit). The adaptation process consisted of 7 focus groups with 58 smokers to provide data on culturally relevant patterns of tobacco use and assess message preferences. In phase 2, we conducted a single-arm pilot test of the SMS intervention with 40 smokers followed by in-depth interviews with 10 participants to inform additional changes to the SMS library. In phase 3, we conducted a 2-arm pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 100 smokers. Participants received either the SMS program (intervention; n=50) or weekly text assessment on smoking status (control; n=50). The 6-week SMS program consisted of a 2-week prequit period and a 4-week postquit period. Participants received 2 to 4 automated messages per day. The main outcomes were engagement and acceptability which were assessed at 6 weeks (end of intervention). We assessed biochemically confirmed smoking abstinence at 6 weeks and 12 weeks. Postintervention in-depth interviews explored user experiences among a random sample of 16 participants in the intervention arm.ResultsParticipants in both arms reported high levels of engagement and acceptability. Participants reported using the program for an average of 36.4 (SD 3.4) days for the intervention arm and 36.0 (SD 3.9) days for the control arm. Four of the 50 participants in the intervention arm (8%) reset the quit date and 19 (38%) texted the keyword TIPS. The majority of participants in both arms reported that they always or usually read the text messages. Compared to the control arm, a higher proportion of participants in the intervention arm reported being satisfied with the program (98% [49/50] vs 82% [41/50]). Biochemically verified abstinence was higher in the intervention arm at 6 weeks (20% [10/50] vs 2% [1/50]; P=.01), but the effect was not significant at 12 weeks (12% [6/50] vs 6% [3/50]; P=.49). In-depth interviews conducted after the RCT suggested additional modifications to enhance the program including tailoring the timing of messages, adding more opportunities to interact with the program, and placing a greater emphasis on messages that described the harms of smoking.ConclusionsThe study supported the feasibility and acceptability of an SMS program adapted for Vietnamese smokers. Future studies need to assess whether, with additional modifications, the program is associated with prolonged abstinence.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03219541; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03219541.
| S-EPMC8538032 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although text-messaging interventions are effective for smoking cessation, few target teens in the USA and little is known about their effectiveness. The purpose of this manuscript is to examine correlates of dropout, response to smoking status prompts, and abstinence rates among subscribers of SmokeFreeTeen, a free, publicly available text-messaging smoking cessation intervention sponsored by the National Cancer Institute's SmokeFree.Gov initiative, on quit day through 1 month follow-up. In a sample of teens (N = 2,685), aged 13-19, we examined demographics, smoking frequency, cigarettes smoked per day, prequit intervention time (i.e., maximum of 14 days of prequit day preparation), and number of quit attempts as correlates of response and abstinence rates among program initiators (i.e., participants who reached quit day but dropped out on or before intervention end) and completers (i.e., participants who reached quit day and completed the intervention). We also conducted Cox regression analysis of time from quit day to dropout by daily and nondaily smoking status. Two-thirds (n = 1,733, 64.54%) dropped out before the intervention ended, with dropout rates peaking on quit day (n = 289, 13.10%). Response rate to smoking status prompts remained below 30% throughout the intervention. At intervention end and 1 month follow-up, abstinence was 2.63% and 2.55% among program initiators, whereas abstinence was 6.09% and 6.01% among program completers. Dropout, response, and abstinence rates did not consistently differ by subscriber characteristics. Prequit time was associated with decreased likelihood of dropping out (adjusted hazards ratio: 0.94, confidence interval [CI]: 0.93-0.95), responding to smoking status prompts (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 0.94, CI: 0.92-0.96), and being abstinent (aOR: 0.96, CI: 0.93-0.99) on quit day. Two or more quit attempts were associated with increased response (aOR: 1.61, CI: 1.16-2.23) and abstinence (aOR: 1.91, CI: 1.25-2.92) rates on Day 7. In a first assessment of SmokeFreeTeen outcomes, we document high dropouts and low response and abstinence rates. SmokeFreeTeen produced abstinence rates lower than comparable text-messaging interventions targeting teens and young adults. Improving SmokeFreeTeen's reach, engagement, and effectiveness is needed.
| S-EPMC8033589 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionWe evaluate whether a combination of financial incentives and deposit contracts improves cessation rates among low- to moderate-income smokers.MethodsWe randomly assigned 311 smokers covered by Medicaid at 12 health clinics in Connecticut to usual care or one of the three treatment arms. Each treatment arm received financial incentives for two months and either (i) nothing further ("incentives only"), (ii) the option to start a deposit contract with incentive earnings after the incentives ended ("commitment"), or (iii) the option to precommit any earned incentives into a deposit contract starting after the incentives ended ("precommitment"). Smoking cessation was confirmed biochemically at two, six, and twelve months.ResultsAt two, six, and twelve months after baseline, our estimated treatment effects on cessation are positive but imprecise, with confidence intervals containing effect sizes estimated by prior studies of financial incentives alone and deposit contracts alone. At two months, the odds ratio for quitting was 1.4 in the incentive-only condition (95% CI: 0.5 to 3.5), 2.0 for incentives followed by commitment (95% CI: 0.6 to 6.1), and 1.9 for incentives and precommitment (95% CI: 0.7 to 5.3).ConclusionsA combined incentive and deposit contract program for Medicaid enrollees, with incentives offering up to $300 for smoking cessation and use of support services, produced a positive but imprecisely estimated effect on biochemically verified cessation relative to usual care and with no detectable difference in cessation rates between the different treatment arms.
| S-EPMC8279199 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAmerican Indian (AI) and Alaska Native (AN) communities experience disproportionately high rates of tobacco use when compared to the overall U.S. population, especially among rural populations.MethodsWe implemented a single-blind, randomized clinical trial of a text messaging-based smoking cessation intervention through the tobacco quitlines of five states (Alaska, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin) with high percentages of AI residents. We partnered with state quitlines and Optum, a multi-state entity that manages quitlines. Participants who called the quitlines and identified as AI/AN were given the option to enroll in this trial. Upon consent, they were randomly assigned to either the standard quitline program (control) or a program culturally tailored for AI/ANs (intervention), which used a text messaging intervention to encourage smoking cessation. We adapted the text messages based on key informant and focus group input. Baseline data was analyzed for differences across age, sex, and the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence.ResultsWe recruited n = 487 AIs into the trial. Participants had an average age of 41.9 years (SD = 11.7) and 66% were female. The average Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence score was 5.38 (SD = 2.37). The intervention and control arms did not significantly differ across any of the baseline characteristics.ConclusionImplementation of this trial illustrated important lessons in adapting, implementing, and evaluating trials in collaboration with AI communities and local and national organizations. This work will inform future efforts to implement culturally-tailored interventions with AI/ANs and advance our knowledge about adapting and implementing smoking cessation interventions.
| S-EPMC6484287 | biostudies-literature