Abstract
Recruiting adolescents into smoking cessation programs has been challenging, and there is a lack of effective smoking cessation interventions for this age group. We aimed to assess whether the approach of using aging images can be used to recruit young, female smokers for a smoking cessation course. In this study, 853 14- to 18-year-old subjects were photographed (2006–2007). After software-aided aging, the images evoked strong emotions, especially in subjects with an advanced motivational stage to quit. Twenty-four percent of current smokers reported that the aging images increased their motivation to quit smoking (pre-contemplation: 8%; contemplation: 32%; and preparation: 71%). In multivariate analyses, the aged images had a high motivational impact to quit smoking that was associated with an increased readiness to stop smoking and the individual’s assessment of the aging images as shocking, but not with the number of previous attempts to quit and the assessment of the pictures as realistic. However, it was not possible to recruit the study population for a smoking cessation course. We concluded that aging images are a promising intervention for reaching young women and increasing their motivation to stop smoking. However, smoking cessation courses may not be appropriate for this age group: none of the recruits agreed to take a cessation course.
Highlights
Despite continuous tobacco prevention efforts and virtually universal awareness of tobacco-related health consequences, the smoking prevalence among young people, especially women, remains high in many countries [1]
Various studies have shown that recruiting young people and convincing them to participate in smoking cessation programs is a demanding process [3,6,7]
While there is a demand for smoking cessation programs, there is minimal evidence of effective interventions for adolescent smokers [8,9,10,11], and this lack of evidence is likely due to the challenges in recruiting and retaining young people in cessation programs
Summary
Despite continuous tobacco prevention efforts and virtually universal awareness of tobacco-related health consequences, the smoking prevalence among young people, especially women, remains high in many countries [1]. Various studies have shown that recruiting young people and convincing them to participate in smoking cessation programs is a demanding process [3,6,7]. While there is a demand for smoking cessation programs, there is minimal evidence of effective interventions for adolescent smokers [8,9,10,11], and this lack of evidence is likely due to the challenges in recruiting and retaining young people in cessation programs. The low interest in participating in smoking cessation programs has been reported [12], little attention has been paid to the development of effective recruitment methods for adolescents [7]. Though, there is little evidence that tailoring messages to the different stages of change will enhance recruitment rates [17]
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