Promoting abstinence among relapsed chronic smokers: the effect of telephone support

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 86; no. 12; pp. 1786 - 1790
• Main Authors: Lando, H A, Pirie, P L, Roski, J, McGovern, P G, Schmid, L A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Am Public Health Assoc 01.12.1996; American Public Health Association
• Subjects: Abstinence; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Cessation; Chronic Disease; Community support; Desintoxication. Drug withdrawal; Female; Humans; Intervention; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Promotion; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public health; Questionnaires; Recurrence; Recycling; Relapse; Response rates; Smoking; Smoking Cessation; Smoking Prevention; Social Support; Success; Telephone; Telephone services; Telephones; Treatments; USA; Human; Prevention; Relapse; Poison withdrawal; Treatment; Telephone; Tobacco smoking; Deintoxication; Health education; Abstinence; Public health; Social support
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.86.12.1786

The present study used telephone support both to sustain abstinence and to encourage renewed quit attempts in smokers who had completed an intensive smoking cessation clinic. Subjects were hard-core smokers (n = 1083) who had attended a multisession cessation clinic. They were then assigned randomly to receive telephone support (intervention calls 3, 9, and 21 months after the targeted cessation clinic quit date) or no further intervention. In the intervention condition, subjects who relapsed were significantly more likely to resume abstinence (that is, to recycle) than those in the comparison condition at follow-up (6 months: 17.8% vs 11.3%; 24 months: 25.7% vs 18.2%). Telephone support was not effective in preventing relapse, and overall differences in abstinence outcome were not significant. The major hypothesis of the current study--that telephone support would enhance the resumption of abstinence--received partial support. However, there was no evidence either of an overall treatment effect or of an effect in preventing relapse. Telephone outreach may be more effective in the context of self-help or other less intensive interventions.