(RxWiki News) Support for quitting smoking goes high tech with WebQuit, a study whose aim is to get as many people willing to sign up for free to drop and stop the habit.
The goal of WebQuit, which began in June 2010, is to improve the effectiveness of online smoking cessation programs.
"Sign up for WebQuit if you want to quit smoking."
Study director Jonathan Bricker, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist specializing in smoking cessation research, admits that these online support programs, while better, still need to improve to really become effective for many patients.
Bricker, also a faculty member at the Cancer Prevention Program in the Hutchinson Center’s Public Health Sciences Division reports that websites aimed at people trying to kick the habit are able to reach people 24/7. However, these generalized websites tend to have very low success rates. This new study wants to find better methods to improve success rates for these "quit smoking" websites.
The study's primary goal, according to Bricker, is to discover what works and to effectively implement a working program.
All study participants will be randomly assigned one of two online smoking cessation programs. After the program, success rates of the two programs will be compared. Bricker is hopeful people will be able to quit smoking during this investigation as well.
Study participation requires online questionnaire completion and a 15 minute follow-up survey. All participants must be at least 18 years of age and not currently currently involved in additional "quit smoking" programs.
