University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications
Title
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
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
Publication Date
2016-12-01
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Dental Public Health and Education | Health Communication | Health Information Technology | Health Services Research | Substance Abuse and Addiction | Translational Medical Research
Abstract
Online 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 toward quit completion in visitors was noted (OR 2.21, 95 % CI 0.81-3.1). Online cessation communities attract smokers with previous cessation website experience and recent quit attempts. Community visiting was not associated with quit rates in our study, but low use may have limited our power to detect differences. Further research should explore whether an additive effect can be achieved by offering community visitors support via online coaches.
Keywords
UMCCTS funding, Health services research, Internet, Online behavior change systems, Smoking cessation, Social network, Social support
DOI of Published Version
10.1007/s13142-015-0373-5
Source
Transl Behav Med. 2016 Dec;6(4):546-557. DOI: 10.1007/s13142-015-0373-5. Link to article on publisher's site
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Translational behavioral medicine
PubMed ID
27379777
Repository Citation
Cutrona, Sarah L.; Sadasivam, Rajani S.; Delaughter, Kathryn; Kamberi, Ariana; Volkman, Julie E.; Cobb, Nathan; Gilbert, Gregg H.; Ray, Midge N.; Houston, Thomas K.; and National Dental PBRN Collaborative Group, "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" (2016). University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. 1235.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/1235