Smokefree Women – A Social Media Prescription for Cessation?

Background: Smoking has continuously ranked as the primary cause of preventable disease. The Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence identifies the Internet as a highly promising means of delivering cessation interventions. Women in particular are primary consumers of health information on the Internet and face unique challenges in the smoking cessation process.

Program background: Women.smokefree.gov, a Web-Assisted Tobacco Intervention (WATI) developed by the National Cancer Institute, launched May 2009 and was designed to reach and engage women who are quitting or planning to quit smoking. In general, WATIs provide a cost-effective and adaptable platform to improve smoking cessation rates. During the past two years, the Smokefree Women project has significantly evolved, incorporating a number of interactive tools and platforms built upon evidence-based intervention techniques for smoking cessation. According to the Public Health Service Clinical Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, two types of counseling and behavior therapies are specifically recommended and associated with higher rates of smoking abstinence. These therapies are: providing smokers with practical counseling (problem solving skills/skills training) and providing support and encouragement as part of treatment.  Smokefree Women has specifically created interactive tools and used social media platforms as a method of intervention delivery to women attempting to quit smoking. Each platform and interactive feature incorporates tailored content specific to the recommended therapies.  The recommended therapies are implemented by Smokefree Women in the form of support, tips, discussion, coaching and reminders. Specific initiatives have also been created around each of these therapies. These initiatives include the Smokefree Monday Pledge, QuitBoost and QuitTracker Facebook Applications, Smokefree Women Facebook page, the Women Who Quit campaign, and web page Quitline prompts.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  This presentation will focus on the feasibility and efficacy of social media platforms and interactive tools as intervention tools for smoking cessation. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be presented. Quantitative data will focus on trends of usage, site traffic and micro-engagements. Qualitative data will include examples of messages directly from our audience.

Conclusions: Evaluation data suggests our target audience is being reached and increasingly engaged in the Smokefree Women initiatives.  Data also suggests clear distinctions between preferred types of interventions.

Implications for research and/or practice:  Although WATIs are increasingly identified as beneficial and effective forms of cessation, understanding how specific intervention components are received by the target audience can help to refine the treatment we are providing and increase consumer demand for online smoking cessation treatment among women.