ORLANDO – Smoking cessation Web sites show potential as an add-on to traditional smoking cessation treatments, according to two studies presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.
Sandra Japuntich of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who presented the results of a study looking at the effects of Web site use on cessation and smoking relapse, said that smoking cessation Web sites are extremely prevalent and smokers are making use of them.
Ms. Japuntich and her colleagues randomized 284 smokers to either the experimental group–three one-on-one counseling sessions, bupropion, and 90 days of access to a smoking cessation Web site–or the control group–counseling and bupropion alone. GlaxoSmithKline provided bupropion for the study.
The researchers selected smokers who were motivated to quit. Those in the experimental group had to log in to the Web site once a day on computers with dial-up Internet access provided by the researchers.
The site included graphs to chart how the participants were doing in their quit attempts, a journal section, search features, and personal recommendations.
There were no statistically significant effects on either cessation or relapse prevention at 3 or 6 months, according to Ms. Japuntich. However, the participants who used the Web site more were more likely to stay abstinent at 3 months and 6 months, she said.
The results of another study reported at the meeting also showed the potential of the Internet to add to existing treatments. Lindsay Turner and her colleagues from the University of Illinois at Chicago studied the use of phone calls and Web site access to boost the success rates of group-based smoking counseling programs for adolescents.
The researchers randomized 351 high school students to receive the American Lung Association's Not On Tobacco (NOT) cessation program alone or the cessation program plus access to an antismoking Web site and phone calls from the group facilitator.
At the end of treatment, the quit rates were 8.5% among the standard care group and 12.2% among those smokers who also received Web site and phone support. At 3 months, the quit rate was 15.7% among the standard care group and 20.4% among the standard care plus group, Ms. Turner reported.
The researchers also compared the Web site effects with the phone support effects among the students and found that access to the Web site had a much greater effect on quitting than did phone support. Overall, the results show that Web site use had a prolonged effect on cessation, she said in an interview.