Smoking Interventions in the General Population

General Population Based Interventions for Smokers Not Ready to Quit: Testing Smoking Reduction vs. Abstinence Oriented Computer Expert Systems

Status

UNKNOWN

Phases

Phase 2

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT00678938

Enrollment

1462

Registered

2008-05-16

Start date

2004-10-31

Completion date

2008-10-31

Last updated

2008-05-16

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Tobacco Smoking

Keywords

smoking reduction, smoking cessation, stages of change, expert system interventions

Brief summary

The study takes up two problems: 1) Little research exists about general population interventions for smokers not ready to quit within the foreseeable future. 2) There is little evidence for smoking reduction as a behavioural goal in interventions. Interventions based on the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (TTM) using computer expert-system technology yield delayed and smaller effects in smokers in the precontemplation stage of change compared to smokers in more advanced stages of change. Reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day is currently discussed as an intermediate goal for this subgroup. Epidemiological and clinical studies revealed that smokers are able to maintain a substantial reduction. No undermining effects with respect to smoking cessation have been found. However, there are no studies that test the efficacy of behavioural interventions for smoking reduction using population based recruitment. Objectives: Testing the efficacy of TTM based interventions for general population smokers not intending to quit smoking, i.e. a smoking-reduction and a smoking-cessation tailored intervention using computerized expert-system technology.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALSmoking abstinence oriented expert system intervention

Participants received up to three counselling letters targeting smoking cessation

BEHAVIORALSmoking reduction oriented expert system intervention

Participants received up to three counselling letters targeting smoking reduction

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

FACTORIAL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Daily smoking of 10 or more cigarettes * No intention to quit within the next six month * Age of 18 years and older * valid telephone number

Exclusion criteria

\- Insufficient german language and cognitive capabilities to complete the assessment

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Point prevalence of tobacco abstinence	24 hours, 7 days, 4 weeks, 6 months preceeding the 12 and 24 month follow-up assessments

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
number of Cigarettes smoked per day	4 weeks preceeding follow-up assessment
number of quit and cutdown attempts	last 12 months preceeding follow-up assessment
Stages of change progress	at 12 and 24 months follow-up

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026