A block randomized controlled trial of a brief smoking cessation counselling and advice through short message service on participants who joined the Quit to Win Contest in Hong Kong

Abstract

The present trial examined the effectiveness of brief interventions for smokers who joined the Hong Kong Quit to Win Contest to quit smoking. A block randomized controlled trial allocated 1003 adult daily smokers to three groups: (i) The TEL group (n = 338) received a 5-min nurse-led telephone counselling; (ii) The SMS group (n = 335) received eight text messages through mobile phone and (iii) The CONTROL group (n = 330) did not receive the above interventions. Participants with biochemically verified abstinence at 6-month follow-up could receive cash incentive. The primary outcome was the self-reported 7-day point prevalence (PP) of tobacco abstinence at 6-month follow-up. The abstinence rate in the TEL, SMS and CONTROL group was 22.2, 20.6 and 20.3%, respectively (P for TEL versus CONTROL = 0.32; P for SMS versus CONTROL = 0.40). When abstinence at 2-, 6- and 12-month follow-up was modelled simultaneously, the TEL group had a higher abstinence than the CONTROL group (Adjusted OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.01-1.88, P = 0 .04). In the Quit to Win Contest, the brief telephone counselling might have increased abstinence, but the text messages had no significant effect. Further studies on intensive intervention and interactive messaging services are warranted.

A Randomised Single-Blinded Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness of Brief Advice on Smoking Cessation among Tertiary Students in Malaysia

“…Among the 22 in the intervention group who received Brief Advice, 6 (27%) respondents continued to quit smoking up to 6 months compared to none in the control. These findings are also consistent with similar study one quitting conducted by a Hong Kong researchers that showed that telephone-based advice was positively associated with abstinence in comparison to advice via short messaging service or no advice at all [18].…”

“…More recently, randomized controlled trials on smoking cessation have been conducted in low-middle income countries settings. A Hong Kong study on the duration of abstinence that used cash incentive as a reward for quitting showed that a brief telephone advice was positively associated with abstinence while short service messaging and no intervention had no effect [18]. A new study protocol by Indian researchers on the effect of brief advice, including training in craving control, has been published [19].…”

Chat-based instant messaging support integrated with brief interventions for smoking cessation: a community-based, pragmatic, cluster-randomised controlled trial

“…Regular messages alone were not found to be effective in increasing abstinence in our previous QTW trial. 19 The counsellors who delivered the chat-based intervention were research staff with at least 1 year of experience in smoking cessation research, supervised by an MSclevel psychotherapist trained in ACT and by a research nurse (TTL). The counsellors met at least once weekly to discuss the caseloads.…”

“…We did a two-arm, parallel, pragmatic, clusterrandomised, controlled trial nested within a Quit to Win (QTW) smoke-free community campaign, organised by the Hong Kong Council of Smoking and Health. [16][17][18][19][20] Details of the rationale and study protocol were reported elsewhere. 21 Ethical approval was granted by the University of Hong Kong and the Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster Institutional Review Board (UW .…”

Effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy sample at outdoor smoking hotspots for initiating quit attempts and use of smoking cessation services: a protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

“…7 8 However, brief advice had a small and non-significant effect on quitting outcomes, as most quit attempters still did not use cessation services or medications for quitting. [9][10][11] We propose to deliver cessation aids such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) sample to further enhance their motivation to quit and take real action. NRT is a safe pharmacotherapy that replaces the nicotine usually provided by smoking cigarettes, to reduce craving and withdrawal symptoms 12 and increase long-term abstinence.…”