Quitline Calls Research Articles

Association between tobacco plain packaging and Quitline calls: a population‐based, interrupted time‐series analysis

To investigate whether the introduction of tobacco plain packaging in Australia from 1October 2012was associated with a change in the number of calls to the smoking cessation helpline, Quitline, and to compare this with the impact of the introduction of graphic health warnings from 1March 2006. Whole-of-population interrupted time-series analysis in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory between 1March 2005and October 2006for the comparator, graphic health warnings, and October 2011and April 2013for the intervention of interest, tobacco plain packaging. Weekly number of calls to the Quitline, after adjusting for seasonal trends, anti-tobacco advertising, cigarette costliness and the number of smokers in the community. There was a 78% increase in the number of calls to the Quitline associated with the introduction of plain packaging (baseline, 363/week; peak, 651/week [95% CI, 523-780/week; P <0.001]). This peak occurred 4weeks after the initial appearance of plain packaging and has been prolonged. The 2006introduction of graphic health warnings had the same relative increase in calls (84%; baseline, 910/week; peak, 1673/week [95% CI, 1383-1963/week; P <0.001]) but the impact of plain packaging has continued for longer. There has been a sustained increase in calls to the Quitline after the introduction of tobacco plain packaging. This increase is not attributable to anti-tobacco advertising activity, cigarette price increases nor other identifiable causes. This is an important incremental step in comprehensive tobacco control.

The effectiveness of mass media campaigns in reducing smoking in England: an observational study

BackgroundLittle evidence exists for the effectiveness of mass media campaigns in the UK despite campaigns running regularly since 1999. In 2010, the UK Government ceased spending on national public health mass media campaigns in England. Tobacco control (TC) campaigns were reintroduced in 2011, but at a lower level of funding. We need to know whether campaigns are effective to ensure continued funding. We aimed to assess the effect of government-funded televised campaigns for TC shown in England during the 2000s on adult smoking behaviours. MethodsWe measured exposure to government-funded television advertisements for TC using television ratings (TVRs) and coded the advertisements for emotional content using a theoretically based framework. Recall of advertisements from 2005 to 2009 was ascertained from participants of the International Tobacco Four Country Survey and analysed with generalised estimating equations, comparing recall between advertisements with positive and negative emotional content. Data for smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption from 2002 to 2010 were obtained from Opinions and Lifestyle surveys. Measures of smoking cessation behaviour (calls to the NHS quitline 2005–11, text requests for quit support packs 2007–10, smoking cessation website hits 2009–11, attendance and 4-week quitters at NHS Stop Smoking Services [SSS] 2001–11) were obtained from the Department of Health and NHS Information Centre. Data were analysed with generalised additive models with adjustments for seasonality, time trends, and other tobacco policies. FindingsBetween 2002 and April, 2010, 35 282 TVRs for TC were broadcast (mean 42 advertisements per year). An increase in TVRs was associated with a significant increase in recall and a reduction in mean cigarette consumption in the following month and smoking prevalence 2 months later (appendix). 45% of advertisements screened between 2004 and 2010 were coded as having positive emotional content. Negative, but not positive, emotive campaigns resulted in significantly increased and longer durations of recall (appendix). There was a significant decrease in text requests for quit support packs, quitline calls, and web hits after April, 2010, but no effect on the use of the NHS SSS (appendix). We studied recall and tobacco use at the individual level; however, TVRs measure mean potential exposure, and individual-level exposure can vary dependent on frequency of television viewing and attention to advertisements. We cannot completely rule out that other unmeasured variables confound the association with TVRs or the timing of the freeze. InterpretationTelevised campaigns are effective in changing smoking behaviours in adults. We are now exploring whether the stronger effect of negative emotive campaigns on recall translates to effects on quitting behaviour. FundingUniversities of Bath, Nottingham, and King's College London, received funding from the National Prevention Research Initiative (www.mrc.ac.uk/npr). Funding partners relevant to this award are: Alzheimer's Research Trust; Alzheimer's Society; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; British Heart Foundation (BHF); Cancer Research UK (CRUK); Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Government Health Directorate; Department of Health; Diabetes UK; Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC); Health and Social Care Research and Development Division of the Public Health Agency; MRC; The Stroke Association; Wellcome Trust; and Welsh Assembly Government. All authors are members of the UK Centre for TC Studies. Funding from the BHF, CRUK, ESRC, MRC, and the NIHR, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. TC-4 was supported by the US National Cancer Institute; Canadian Institutes of Health Research; National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia; CRUK; Ontario Institute for Cancer Research; and Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute through awards to Geoffrey T Fong.

Increasing tobacco quitline calls from pregnant african american women: the "one tiny reason to quit" social marketing campaign.

Pregnant African American women are at disproportionately high risk of premature birth and infant mortality, outcomes associated with cigarette smoking. Telephone-based, individual smoking cessation counseling has been shown to result in successful quit attempts in the general population and among pregnant women, but "quitlines" are underutilized. A social marketing campaign called One Tiny Reason to Quit (OTRTQ) promoted calling a quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW) to pregnant, African American women in Richmond, Virginia, in 2009 and was replicated there 2 years later. The campaign disseminated messages via radio, interior bus ads, posters, newspaper ads, and billboards. Trained volunteers also delivered messages face-to-face and distributed branded give-away reminder items. The number of calls made from pregnant women in the Richmond area during summer 2009 was contrasted with (a) the number of calls during the seasons immediately before and after the campaign, and (b) the number of calls the previous summer. The replication used the same evaluation design. There were statistically significant spikes in calls from pregnant women during both campaign waves for both types of contrasts. A higher proportion of the calls from pregnant women were from African Americans during the campaign. A multimodal quitline promotion like OTRTQ should be considered for geographic areas with sizable African American populations and high rates of infant mortality.

CIGARETTE QUITLINES, TAXES, AND OTHER TOBACCO CONTROL POLICIES: A STATE‐LEVEL ANALYSIS

This paper estimates monthly quitline calls using panel data at the state level from January 2005 to June 2010. Calls to state quitline numbers (or 1-800-QUITNOW) were measured per million adult smokers in each state. The policies considered include excise taxes, workplace and public smoking bans, and a Peter Jennings television-based program warning of the health risks of smoking. We found that people anticipating increases in prices begin attempting to quit by calling quitlines. Finally, the Peter Jennings media campaign was highly correlated with quitline calls.

The relation between media promotions and service volume for a statewide tobacco quitline and a web-based cessation program

BackgroundThis observational study assessed the relation between mass media campaigns and service volume for a statewide tobacco cessation quitline and stand-alone web-based cessation program.MethodsMultivariate regression analysis was used to identify how weekly calls to a cessation quitline and weekly registrations to a web-based cessation program are related to levels of broadcast media, media campaigns, and media types, controlling for the impact of external and earned media events.ResultsThere was a positive relation between weekly broadcast targeted rating points and the number of weekly calls to a cessation quitline and the number of weekly registrations to a web-based cessation program. Additionally, print secondhand smoke ads and online cessation ads were positively related to weekly quitline calls. Television and radio cessation ads and radio smoke-free law ads were positively related to web program registration levels. There was a positive relation between the number of web registrations and the number of calls to the cessation quitline, with increases in registrations to the web in 1 week corresponding to increases in calls to the quitline in the subsequent week. Web program registration levels were more highly influenced by earned media and other external events than were quitline call volumes.ConclusionOverall, broadcast advertising had a greater impact on registrations for the web program than calls to the quitline. Furthermore, registrations for the web program influenced calls to the quitline. These two findings suggest the evolving roles of web-based cessation programs and Internet-use practices should be considered when creating cessation programs and media campaigns to promote them. Additionally, because different types of media and campaigns were positively associated with calls to the quitline and web registrations, developing mass media campaigns that offer a variety of messages and communicate through different types of media to motivate tobacco users to seek services appears important to reach tobacco users. Further research is needed to better understand the complexities and opportunities involved in simultaneous promotion of quitline and web-based cessation services.

Which types of televised anti-tobacco campaigns prompt more quitline calls from disadvantaged groups?

To examine the efficacy of different types of mass media ads in driving lower socio-economic smokers (SES) to utilize quitlines. This study collected all 33 719 calls to the Victorian quitline in Australia over a 2-year period. Negative binomial regressions examined the relationship between weekly levels of exposure to different types of anti-smoking ads and quitline calls, after adjusting for covariates. Interaction terms were added to determine whether relationships differed by SES. In total, smokers were exposed 88.39 times to anti-smoking ads over the 2-year period, as estimated by target audience ratings points. Higher emotion narrative ad exposure had the strongest association with quitline calls, increasing call rates by 13% for every additional ad exposure per week (per 100 points, rate ratio = 1.132, P = 0.001). Substantially, greater increases in calls to quitline from lower SES groups were observed when higher emotion narrative ads were on air compared with when other ad types were on air, and this advantage was not as strong among higher SES groups. Airing higher emotion narrative anti-smoking ads may contribute to reducing, but not eliminating, socio-economic disparities in calls to the quitline through maximizing the responses of the lower SES smokers.

Reaching Spanish-Speaking Smokers: State-Level Evidence of Untapped Potential for QuitLine Utilization

We examined the effects of a Spanish-language media campaign on the reach and outcomes of a state-sponsored QuitLine among Latino smokers. In this quasiexperimental (2-group, pre-post) study, we analyzed data from Colorado QuitLine callers before (April-August 2007) and during (September-November 2007) the media campaign. Call volume, service utilization, and quit rates at 7-month follow-up were compared between Latino (n = 243) and non-Latino (n = 527) callers. QuitLine calls increased among Latinos during the campaign by 57.6% (1169 vs 1842 in 3-month periods). Compared with precampaign Latino study respondents, Latino respondents during the campaign were significantly younger (younger than 45 years), more often Spanish speaking, uninsured, and less educated. Among Latino enrollees, program completion and nicotine replacement therapy use were similar before and during the campaign, and quit rates during the campaign improved marginally to significantly (7-day abstinence: 29.6% vs 41.0%, P = .07; 6-month abstinence: 9.6% vs 18.8%, P = .04). A well-designed, statewide Spanish-language media campaign increased QuitLine reach and improved cessation outcomes among a young Latino population of low socioeconomic status. QuitLine-supported cessation can be increased among these smokers.

Impact on quit attempts of mailed general practitioner &amp;apos;brief advice&amp;apos; letters plus nicotine replacement therapy vouchers

To test whether a personalised letter from general practitioners advising their patients who are smokers to quit, together with an exchange card for one month of nicotine gum, prompts them to make quit attempts, is acceptable and feasible. Non-randomised before-after ecological study involving general practices in Auckland, New Zealand. Personalised letters with exchange cards for four weeks of nicotine gum were sent to 831 patients within a single Auckland health board area who were recorded as current smokers on their general practitioners files. The comparison group was the population in another Auckland health board area. We measured calls to Quitline and vouchers redeemed at pharmacies from both areas before and after the intervention. Follow-up surveys of recipients and general practitioners assessed acceptability. Quitline calls from baseline to the end of the intervention from the intervention district compared with a comparison district were not significantly higher (5%, 95% CI -2-12%, p = 0.195), but nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) voucher redemptions were significantly higher (9%, 95% CI 3-16%, p = .005). Almost 9% of the exchange cards were redeemed for NRT. Despite initial difficulties in accurately identifying smokers from their records, responding GPs found the strategy very acceptable. The strategy shows potential as a simple way to increase the number of smokers making supported quit attempts through primary care. In the light of the urgent need to increase cessation rates, a randomised trial of this promising approach is warranted.

Smokers respond to anti-tobacco mass media campaigns in NSW by calling the Quitline

One aim of the anti-tobacco mass media campaigns in NSW is to increase the numbers of smokers calling the Quitline to seek assistance to quit. Investigation of the relationship between the weight of television advertising (Target Audience Rating Points: TARPs) and number of calls to the Quitline. There is a high correlation between weekly Quitline calls and TARPs. Anti-tobacco mass media campaign advertising that promotes the Quitline number encourages smokers to seek assistance to quit.

The association between advertising and calls to a tobacco quitline

Objective:This study assessed the cost effectiveness of different types of television and radio advertisements and the time of day in which advertisements were placed in generating calls to the Oregon...

Effectiveness and cost effectiveness of television, radio and print advertisements in promoting the New York smokers’ quitline

Objectives:This study assessed the relative effectiveness and cost effectiveness of television, radio and print advertisements to generate calls to the New York smokers’ quitline.Methods:Regression analysis was used to link total...

Generating Quitline calls during Australia’s National Tobacco Campaign: effects of television advertisement execution and programme placement

Objective: The study sought to measure the relative efficiency of different television advertisements and types of television programmes in which advertisements were placed, in generating calls to Australia’s national Quitline....