Lancet: Text messaging effective part of smoking cessation program
A smoking cessation program called txt2stop, a text messaging service that sends participants motivational messages, delivered positive, short-term results for smoking cessation rates at six months, according to the txt2stop study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and published online June 30 in The Lancet.
Using biochemical tests to confirm continued abstinence six months following the study's participants’ self-reported quit dates, researchers determined that 10.7 percent of 2,915 txts2stop users (smokers) were able to maintain abstinence for the six months compared with 4.9 percent of a control group’s members.
“The txt2stop smoking cessation program significantly improved cessation rates at six months and should be considered for inclusion in smoking cessation services,” Caroline Free, PhD, MD, and her colleagues wrote.
Participants in the txt2stop group received five text messages per day during the first five weeks of the program and then three per week during the final 26 weeks of the program. Messages were tailored to provide txt2stop participants with advice and support relevant to their stage in the cessation process.
One message sent to txt2stop participants shortly before their designated quit dates read, “To make thing easier for yourself, try having some distractions ready for cravings and think up some personal strategies to help in stressful situations.”
A message sent to txt2stop participants on their designated quit dates read, “This is it! QUIT DAY, throw away all your cigarettes. TODAY is the start of being QUIT forever, you can do it!”
When txt2stop participants encountered obstacles, they could text the service for support. Texting “crave” to the service prompted a response like, “Cravings last less than five minutes on average. To help distract yourself, try sipping a drink slowly until the craving is over.”
Researchers suggested that existing smoking cessation programs should adopt text messaging as an inexpensive means of becoming more effective.
“On the basis of these results the txt2stop intervention should be considered as an addition to existing smoking cessation services,” Free and colleagues wrote. “To scale up the txt2stop intervention for delivery at a national or international level would be technically easy. The intervention is low cost and likely to be highly cost-effective.
Using biochemical tests to confirm continued abstinence six months following the study's participants’ self-reported quit dates, researchers determined that 10.7 percent of 2,915 txts2stop users (smokers) were able to maintain abstinence for the six months compared with 4.9 percent of a control group’s members.
“The txt2stop smoking cessation program significantly improved cessation rates at six months and should be considered for inclusion in smoking cessation services,” Caroline Free, PhD, MD, and her colleagues wrote.
Participants in the txt2stop group received five text messages per day during the first five weeks of the program and then three per week during the final 26 weeks of the program. Messages were tailored to provide txt2stop participants with advice and support relevant to their stage in the cessation process.
One message sent to txt2stop participants shortly before their designated quit dates read, “To make thing easier for yourself, try having some distractions ready for cravings and think up some personal strategies to help in stressful situations.”
A message sent to txt2stop participants on their designated quit dates read, “This is it! QUIT DAY, throw away all your cigarettes. TODAY is the start of being QUIT forever, you can do it!”
When txt2stop participants encountered obstacles, they could text the service for support. Texting “crave” to the service prompted a response like, “Cravings last less than five minutes on average. To help distract yourself, try sipping a drink slowly until the craving is over.”
Researchers suggested that existing smoking cessation programs should adopt text messaging as an inexpensive means of becoming more effective.
“On the basis of these results the txt2stop intervention should be considered as an addition to existing smoking cessation services,” Free and colleagues wrote. “To scale up the txt2stop intervention for delivery at a national or international level would be technically easy. The intervention is low cost and likely to be highly cost-effective.