Personalized Web messages help smokers quit

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Smokers seeking to quit who look for help from Web-based programs will be more likely to kick the habit if that program is personalized and tailored specifically to them, a new study shows.

While about one million people call 1-800 hotlines for help in quitting smoking every year, at least 10 million people surf the Web for smoking cessation advice, Dr. Victor J. Strecher of the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor. “If you could build programs on the Internet that really were effective, you could have a tremendous public health impact,” he said in an interview.

To investigate which aspects determine the success of Web-based smoking cessation programs, Strecher and colleagues randomized 1,866 smokers who belonged to two large HMOs to different versions of a program in which five components had been varied. 

For example, half of study participants got all the material for the six-week program at once, while others received a new section every week.

This didn’t affect the program’s effectiveness. However, versions of the program including a “high-depth tailored success story,” with specifics such as a person’s employment status, perceived barriers to quitting, forms of social support, marital status and spouse’s smoking status and more, helped 34.6 percent of users stay abstinent for six months, compared to 26.8 percent of people who saw a “low-depth tailored” version including only their gender and name.

Personalizing the source of the program by including photos of the HMO’s smoking cessation team and using a “friendly, personal manner” in the introductory section text was also effective, the researchers found, with 33.6 percent of participants given this version still abstinent at six months, compared to 27.4 percent of those who had been randomized to a version showing only the HMO building and referring to “this organization” rather than “we” and “our team.”

Personalizing and tailoring helped study participants achieve quit rates similar to those seen with group therapy and individual counseling, Strecher noted.

“A lot of companies are throwing out pamphlet-ware online and assuming it will change behavior,” the researcher said. “We’ve known for a long time that pamphlets and brochures and even un-tailored videos don’t seem to have that much of an effect.”

Strecher is the founder and chairman of HealthMedia, Inc., a company that builds tailored computer programs that it sells to large HMOs to help their members with weight management, stress management, diabetes and other health issues.

SOURCE: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, May 2008. 

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