Innovative Web-Based Intervention for Smoking Cessation Among College Students

Completed · Phase 1

Conditions studied: Tobacco Use Cessation, Cigarette Smoking

In brief

Tobacco use is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. Because smokers who quit by age 30 have cancer death risk similar to non-smokers, promoting cessation early in life is critical. U.S. colleges/universities, enrolling \>14 million students/year (40% of those aged 18 to 24), are an important venue to reach young adult smokers. While daily tobacco use in the U.S. has declined to 18.1%, nondaily smoking (smoking on some days but not every day) is increasing, particularly among young adults and African Americans. Moreover, young smokers and nondaily smokers (half of young adult smokers), respectively, are less likely to seek help in quitting; thus, innovative strategies are needed to assist cessation early in life, particularly among those who may not be motivated to quit or seek help. Unfortunately, no research has focused on developing a cessation intervention that addresses a broad range of smoking patterns (nondaily to daily smoking) or diverse campus settings among ethnically diverse student populations. Web-based interventions offer promise in helping college students to quit, given high rates of Internet use and web capacity to provide tailored cessation messages. A novel approach to delivering cessation information via the web might be to address broader lifestyle issues and apply market research strategies to identify market segments of smokers (groups of people with similar interests, goals, values) in order to target and engage these groups more effectively. Applying this strategy to an online cessation intervention should enhance both intervention use and processing of intervention messages, leading to greater abstinence rates. The investigators aim to: (1) develop and refine a tailored web-based intervention for smoking cessation targeting college students with a range of smoking levels; (2) test the usability, acceptability, and feasibility of the intervention among college student smokers; and (3) determine the potential effect of the intervention on smoking cessation, smoking level, quit attempts, and contextual factors.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01982825

Run by

Emory University

People needed

200

Starts

2013-01-01

Expected to finish

2013-07-01

Last updated by the study team

2013-12-05

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 30. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• age ≥ 18 and less than 30,
• enrolled at least part-time,
• intending to be in one of the two participating schools (Georgia State University, Valdosta State University) for the academic year,
• able to read English, and
• any cigarette smoking in previous 30 days.

You may not qualify if…

• Significant mental health problems.

Where it is running

• Emory University — Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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