| Recruitment of adolescent smokers through an emotionally ... | |
Thrul, J. & Bühler, A. (2011, April). Recruitment of adolescent smokers through an emotionally arousing intervention. Lecture, 14th Conference of the European Association of Substance Abuse Research (EASAR), Niederpöcking, Germany. | |
| Introduction. Smoking is a leading cause of premature mortality. As regular smoking during adolescence increases the risk of tobacco dependence in later life, there is a need for early interventions with adolescents. Can adolescent smokers be recruited into an internet-based smoking cessation program through means of a highly demanded, clinic based and emotionally arousing activity? Method. 902 students (age 13.2 years) from 18 schools participated in a quasi-experimental clinical trial. Classes from grade 7 to 9 participated in a two-hour workshop held at a hospital including a live pulmonary endoscopy and a testimonial interview with a lung cancer patient. Back at school a mandatory "quit briefing session" was implemented which finally informed about an internet-based cessation program. In order to generate evidence-based judgements about the effectiveness of this disputable but popular intervention as a motivational and access strategy, participants are compared to students of a wait-list control group receiving only minimal intervention (information material). At baseline 97 smokers (30 day prevalence) were identified 29 of which were motivated to quit smoking within the next 6 months. Recruitment success is currently being evaluated using ANOVAs and regression analyses. Expected results. For smokers the clinic visit shall result in a stronger motivation to quit, a higher participation in the cessation program and an increase in quit rates. Preliminary results are going to be presented at this conference. |