Online tobacco websites and online communities —who uses them and do users quit smoking? The quit-primo and national dental practice-based research network Hi-Quit studies

AbstractOnline tobacco cessation communities are beneficial but underused. Our study examined whether, among smokers participating in a web-assisted tobacco intervention (Decide2quit.org), specific characteristics were associated with navigating to BecomeAnEx.org, an online cessation community, and with subsequent quit rates. Among smokers (N = 759) registered with Decide2quit.org, we identified visitors to BecomeAnEx.org, examining associations between smoker characteristics and likelihood of visiting. We then tested for associations between visits and 6-month cessation (point prevalence). We also tested for an interaction between use of other online support-seeking (Decide2quit.org tobacco cessation coaches), visiting, and 6-month cessation. One quarter (26.0 %;n = 197) of the smokers visited BecomeAnEx.org; less than one tenth (7.5 %;n = 57) registered to participate in the online forum. Visitors were more likely to be female (73.0 vs. 62.6 % of non-visitors,P <  0.01) to have visited a cessation website before (33.0 vs. 17.4 %,P <  0.01) and to report quit attempts in the previous year (62.0 vs. 53.0 %,P = 0.03). In analyses of all participants, BecomeAnEx.org visiting was not associated with 6-month quit completion. Among participants who communicated with a coach, BecomeAnEx.org visiting also lacked a significant association with 6 month quit completion, although a non-significant trend towa rd quit completion in visitors was noted (O...
Source: Translational Behavioral Medicine - Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research