Smoking cessation via text messaging in the US

About one in four young adults in the US are current smokers.  Although over half report the desire to quit or cut down, quit rates among young adults have remained stagnant in the last ten years.

An estimated 75% of 18 – 24 year olds in the United States have a cell phone, 60% of whom use text messaging as a form of communication.   Text messaging may represent a compelling intervention delivery method for young adult-targeted interventions because it is a medium they have widely adopted.  Cell phone interventions also are unique because of their ‘always on’ capability – interventions are never far from the young adult’s reach and they are received automatically instead of requiring the participant to initiate contact in order to receive the information.
Dr. Ybarra, along with Drs. Holtrop and Graham, have developed SMS Turkey, an innovative behavioral intervention that uses text messaging to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy-based smoking cessation information to participants daily.  The program has been piloted in Ankara, Turkey in spring, 2009.  Successful use of text messaging to deliver smoking cessation programs has been reported by Rodgers and colleagues in New Zealand  and a replication study they are leading in the UK (personal communication, R. Whittaker, September, 2007).  These data provide optimism for the feasibility of text messaging-based smoking cessation programs in the United States.

Using qualitative methods to inform design and content, and quantitative methods to assess the feasibility of the program, we propose to design and test SMS (Stop My Smoking) USA, a cell-phone based smoking cessation program for young adults ages 18-25.  This innovative smoking cessation program uses technology widely adopted by young adults, an under-targeted population, to deliver a proactive, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based intervention. Our multidisciplinary team of researchers brings together expertise in Internet health and the design of tailored smoking cessation interventions.