Effectiveness of individually tailored smoking cessation advice letters as an adjunct to telephone counselling and generic self-help materials: randomized controlled trial

• Published in: Addiction (Abingdon, England) England), 2007-06, Vol.102 (6), p.994-1000
• Main Authors: Sutton, Stephen, Gilbert, Hazel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abstinence; Addiction; Addictive behaviors; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Cessation; Communication; Counseling; Counseling - methods; Counselling; Drug addiction; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Health; Health Promotion - methods; Humans; Individualized programmes; Letters; Letters (Correspondence); Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Patient Education as Topic; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Self Help Groups; Self-help; Self-help materials; Selfhelp programmes; Smokers; Smoking; smoking cessation; Smoking Cessation - methods; Smoking Prevention; Social problems; tailored interventions; telephone counselling; Telephone services; Tobacco smoking; Tobacco, tobacco smoking; Toxicology; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0965-2140; 1360-0443
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2007.01831.x

ABSTRACT Objective  To evaluate the effectiveness of individually tailored smoking cessation advice letters as an adjunct to telephone counselling and generic self‐help materials. Design  Randomized controlled trial. Setting  The UK Quitline. Participants  A total of 1508 current smokers and recent ex‐smokers. Interventions  The control group received usual care (telephone counselling and an information pack sent through the post). The intervention group received in addition a computer‐generated individually tailored advice letter. Main outcome measures  All outcomes were assessed at 6‐month follow‐up. The primary outcome measure was self‐reported prolonged abstinence for at least 3 months. Secondary outcomes were self‐reported prolonged abstinence for at least 1 month and 7‐day and 24‐hour point‐prevalence abstinence. Results  For the sample as a whole, quit rates did not differ significantly between the two conditions. However, among the majority (n = 1164) who were smokers at baseline, quit rates were consistently higher in the intervention group: prolonged abstinence for 3 months, 12.2% versus 9.0% [odds ratio (OR) = 1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.96–2.04, P = 0.080); prolonged abstinence for 1 month, 16.4% versus 11.3% (OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.09–2.15, P = 0.013); 7‐day point‐prevalence abstinence, 18.9% versus 12.7% (OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.15–2.19, P = 0.004); 24‐hour point‐prevalence abstinence, 20.9% versus 15.4% (OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.07–1.96, P = 0.015). Conclusions  The results for the smokers are encouraging in showing a small but useful effect of the tailored letter on quit rate. Versions of the tailoring program could be used on the web and in general practices, pharmacies and primary care trusts.