Factors in smoking cessation among participants in a televised intervention

Abstract

This paper analyzes factors associated with smoking cessation during a 1-year period following a televised, self-help intervention among a sample of smokers who registered and participated in the program. Factors examined include readiness to quit smoking, extent of use of self-help materials, degree of exposure to the televised intervention, and environmental support for quitting from within the smoker's household. Behavioral response immediately following the intervention appeared to persist over the year of observation. Of those who reported stopping smoking immediately following the intervention, fewer than half (about 10% of the total sample that was followed) were continuously abstinent at 12 months. The results indicate that environmental support when the individual is attempting to quit smoking is very important in differentiating between those who successfully quit and those who attempt but fail to sustain their abstinence. The results also suggest that an approach combining television and self-help may reach large populations of smokers and induce a substantial number to quit and remain abstinent.