Lys Severtson, MPH, Joseph Haas, Amy Neftzger, MA, James Purvis, MSSW, Elizabeth Rula, PhD

Abstract: To ameliorate the healthcare costs and disease burden that result from smoking, employers are increasingly seeking smoking cessation programs to reduce risk among the employee population. This study of QuitNet Comprehensive, a multi-media smoking cessation program, found that 27.2% of all enrollees over a 3-month timeframe had successfully quit smoking after 7-months, which is much higher than the quit rate achieved by a web-only offering. When those who did not respond to the follow-up survey were excluded from the analysis, the quit rate was 44.7%. Within the comprehensive program, both web-support and phone-support proved highly effective and the combination of both modalities resulted in the highest quit rate. Greater engagement with the program was associated with higher quit rates; both the number of phone calls and the number of website logins were positively correlated with success in quitting. Also, use of the social networking features and interactive tools on the QuitNet website were significantly associated with higher quit rates. Incentivized participation and the use of nicotine replacement therapy were additional program features that were associated with successful cessation. These results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of a smoking cessation program that offers customized experience through multiple modalities for engaging the member and supporting the cessation process.
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