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Automated E-mail Messaging as a Tool for Improving Quit Rates in an Internet Smoking Cessation Intervention

Automated E-mail Messaging as a Tool for Improving Quit Rates in an Internet Smoking Cessation... AbstractObjective: The aim of this study was to determine whether an automated e-mail messaging system that sent individually timed educational messages (ITEMs) increased the effectiveness of an Internet smoking cessation intervention.Design: Using two consecutive series of participants, the authors compared two Web-based self-help style smoking cessation interventions: a single-point-in-time educational intervention and an enhanced intervention that also sent ITEMs timed to participants' quit efforts. Outcomes were compared in 199 participants receiving the one-time intervention and 286 receiving ITEMs.Measurements: Demographic factors, number of cigarettes smoked, nicotine addiction, depressive symptoms, and confidence in ability to quit were measured at entry. Twenty-four–hour quit attempts and seven-day point-prevalence of abstinence (nonrespondents assumed to smoke) were measured 30 days after each subject's self-selected quit date.Results: The one-time and ITEMs groups differed in some demographics and some relapse risk factors but not in factors associated with 30-day quit rates. ITEMs appeared to increase the rate at which individuals set quit dates (97% vs. 91%, p = 0.005) and, among the respondents to follow-up questionnaires (n = 145), the rate of reported 24-hour quit efforts (83% vs. 54%, p = 0.001). The 30-day intent-to-treat quit rates were higher in the ITEMs group: 7.5% vs. 13.6%, p = 0.035. In multivariate analyses controlling for differences between groups, receiving ITEMs was associated with an increase in the odds ratio for quitting of 2.6 (95% confidence interval = 1.3–5.3).Conclusion: ITEMs sent on strategic days in smokers' quit efforts enhanced early success with smoking cessation relative to a single-point-in-time Web intervention. The effect appears to be mediated by ITEMs' causing smokers to plan and undertake quit efforts more frequently. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association Oxford University Press

Automated E-mail Messaging as a Tool for Improving Quit Rates in an Internet Smoking Cessation Intervention

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References (23)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
American Medical Informatics Association
ISSN
1067-5027
eISSN
1527-974X
DOI
10.1197/jamia.M1464
pmid
15064291
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractObjective: The aim of this study was to determine whether an automated e-mail messaging system that sent individually timed educational messages (ITEMs) increased the effectiveness of an Internet smoking cessation intervention.Design: Using two consecutive series of participants, the authors compared two Web-based self-help style smoking cessation interventions: a single-point-in-time educational intervention and an enhanced intervention that also sent ITEMs timed to participants' quit efforts. Outcomes were compared in 199 participants receiving the one-time intervention and 286 receiving ITEMs.Measurements: Demographic factors, number of cigarettes smoked, nicotine addiction, depressive symptoms, and confidence in ability to quit were measured at entry. Twenty-four–hour quit attempts and seven-day point-prevalence of abstinence (nonrespondents assumed to smoke) were measured 30 days after each subject's self-selected quit date.Results: The one-time and ITEMs groups differed in some demographics and some relapse risk factors but not in factors associated with 30-day quit rates. ITEMs appeared to increase the rate at which individuals set quit dates (97% vs. 91%, p = 0.005) and, among the respondents to follow-up questionnaires (n = 145), the rate of reported 24-hour quit efforts (83% vs. 54%, p = 0.001). The 30-day intent-to-treat quit rates were higher in the ITEMs group: 7.5% vs. 13.6%, p = 0.035. In multivariate analyses controlling for differences between groups, receiving ITEMs was associated with an increase in the odds ratio for quitting of 2.6 (95% confidence interval = 1.3–5.3).Conclusion: ITEMs sent on strategic days in smokers' quit efforts enhanced early success with smoking cessation relative to a single-point-in-time Web intervention. The effect appears to be mediated by ITEMs' causing smokers to plan and undertake quit efforts more frequently.

Journal

Journal of the American Medical Informatics AssociationOxford University Press

Published: Jul 1, 2004

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