Abstract
This study compared the connectivity of video sessions to telephone sessions delivered to smokers in rural areas and whether remoteness and video app (video only) were associated with the connectivity of video or telephone sessions. Participants were recruited into a randomised trial where two arms offered smoking cessation counselling via: (a) real-time video communication software (201 participants) or (b) telephone (229 participants). Participants were offered up to six video or telephone sessions and the connectivity of each session was recorded. A total of 456 video sessions and 606 telephone sessions were completed. There was adequate connectivity of the video intervention in terms of no echoing noise (97.8%), no loss of internet connection during the session (88.6%), no difficulty hearing the participant (88.4%) and no difficulty seeing the participant (87.5%). In more than 94% of telephone sessions, there was no echoing noise, no difficulty hearing the participant and no loss of telephone line connection. Video sessions had significantly greater odds of experiencing connectivity difficulties than telephone sessions in relation to connecting to the participant at the start (odds ratio, OR = 5.13, 95% confidence interval, CI 1.88–14.00), loss of connection during the session (OR = 11.84, 95% CI 4.80–29.22) and hearing the participant (OR = 2.53, 95% CI 1.41–4.55). There were no significant associations between remoteness and video app and connectivity difficulties in the video or telephone sessions. Real-time video sessions are a feasible option for smoking cessation providers to provide support in rural areas.
Highlights
The services routinely offered by quitlines for smoking cessation include telephone counselling and written materials [1]
Between 25 May 2017 and 2 October 2018, there was a total of 430 participants recruited into either the video counselling (n = 201) or telephone counselling (n = 229) arms of the randomised trial
These findings provide further support for delivering smoking cessation care via telephone in rural locations which is the approach used by quitline providers as part of their routine practices [1,32,33]
Summary
The services routinely offered by quitlines for smoking cessation include telephone counselling (reactive and/or proactive) and written materials [1]. Telephone counselling is an accessible and flexible mode for delivering smoking cessation support [1,2,3] that has been shown to increase quitting success [4,5,6] and is cost effective [7]. The advantages of telephone services that assist people to quit include that: support can be tailored to individual needs; they are widely accessible; they eliminate the need to travel to access services; and they can reach rural and remote populations that may have limited access to in-person smoking cessation interventions [2]. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 2891; doi:10.3390/ijerph17082891 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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