Support-person Promotion of a Smoking Quitline: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Patten CA, Smith CM,
Brockman TA, Decker PA, Hughes CA, Nadeau AM, Sinicrope PS, Offord KP,
Lichtenstein E, Zhu SH. Am J Prev Med. 2011
Jul;41(1):17-23.
This study
examined the efficacy of an intervention designed to help support people promote
smoker utilization of the Minnesota QUITPLAN Helpline. The two group randomized
design compared the support person intervention (n=267) with a control condition
(written materials, n=267). Participants were 91% female, 93% Caucasian, and all
were Minnesota
residents. The intervention consisted of written materials plus three weekly
telephone sessions that provided participants with information and skills needed
to encourage their smoker to call the helpline. Results showed that the
proportion of calls to the Helpline was significantly greater for smokers linked
to support people in the intervention group (16.1%) than in the control group
(8.6%). The effect remained even when controlling for support people and smokers
who lived together. Among the intervention group, support people completing a
greater number of sessions was associated with increased calls to the Helpline.
The authors concluded that a support-person intervention is effective at
increasing smoker utilization of a Helpline, and that this method has potential
for increasing the reach of quitlines by targeting the social network of
smokers.
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