Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Sep 26, 2019
Date Accepted: Oct 26, 2019
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Co-ed and women-only Twitter support groups verses usual care to quit smoking: A randomized controlled trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Existing smoking cessation treatments are challenged by low engagement and high relapse rates, suggesting the need for more innovative, accessible and interactive treatment strategies. Twitter is a mobile platform that allows people to communicate with each other throughout the day right from their phone.
Objective:
This study aims to leverage the social media platform of Twitter for fostering peer-to-peer support to decrease relapse with quitting smoking. Further, the study will compare the effects of co-ed versus women-only groups on women’s success with quitting smoking.
Methods:
The study design is a 3-arm randomized controlled trial with two treatment arms (co-ed or women-only Twitter support group) and a control arm. All participants receive 8 weeks of combination nicotine replacement therapy (patches plus gum or lozenges); serial emails with links to Smokefree.gov quit guides; and encouragement to set a quit date a week into study start. Participants randomized to a treatment arm are placed in a Twitter support group (co-ed or women-only), paired with a buddy (matched on age, gender, location, and education), and encouraged to communicate with the group via daily discussion topics and feedback texts on their tweeting behavior. Recruited online from across the continental United States, the sample is 215 men and 745 women current cigarette smokers wanting to quit, between the ages of 21-59.
Results:
Follow-up surveys are completed at 1, 3, and 6 months post-quit date with cotinine validation at 3- and 6-months. The primary outcome is sustained biochemically-confirmed abstinence at 6-months follow-up.
Conclusions:
This study combines the mobile platform of Twitter with a support group for quitting smoking. Findings will inform the efficacy of virtual peer-to-peer support groups for quitting smoking and potentially elucidate gender differences in quit rates found in prior research. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrial.gov Registration # NCT02823028 (Last Updated January 2019).
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