title: The impact of a quit smoking contest on smoking behaviour in Ontario.
abstract: Community-based smoking cessation initiatives target large numbers of people, are highly visible and have the potential for great impact. Ontario's Quit Smoking (2002) Contest was evaluated one year after its implementation to measure behaviour change among adult smokers participating in the contest. The registration database of 15,521 contest participants provided the basis for a random sample of 700 participants throughout Ontario who were contacted for a follow-up telephone survey. A total of 347 surveys were completed, of which 60 percent were women. Almost one third (31.4 percent) of the survey respondents reported that they had not smoked since the start of the contest. Participation in the contest also may have delayed relapse by as much as fi ve months for 31.3 percent of respondents who resumed smoking. Older respondents, men, those who had previously attempted to quit and people who said their cessation "buddy" was helpful were more likely to stop smoking.
authors.affiliation: PICEPS Consultants, Inc., Ajax, Ontario, Canada. fashbury@picepsconsultants.com
authors.forename: Fredrick D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Ashbury
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Finlan
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: Ethylene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Villareal
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Décoste
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kulnies
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Swoboda-Geen
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kralj
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires