Online intervention engagement predicts smoking cessation.
OBJECTIVE
Instead of focusing on individual differences as predictors of quitting ("who they are"), this study focuses on actions ("what they do"). The purpose is to predict smoking abstinence in internet users who may become involved in social activities within the virtual community.


METHODS
From March, 2009, to July, 2011, users of a web-based smoking cessation program in Germany made data available for a post-hoc evaluation study (n=13,174), including abstinence rates and online activities such as a) posting on a bulletin board after a smoke-free day, b) offering a donation, and c) posting messages throughout their course.


RESULTS
Survival analyses for 70 days of self-reported non-smoking documented higher success rates for those who made use of one or more of the virtual community activities. Moreover, the effect of making an initial bulletin board entry on 10-week abstinence was mediated by offering a donation and posting messages throughout the course (R(2)=0.125). The indirect effect via donation was 0.10 (95% CI 0.06-0.14), and the indirect effect via message posting was 0.31 (95% CI 0.25-0.38).


CONCLUSIONS
Virtual community activities predict smoking cessation. Shifting the focus from personality characteristics toward behavioral process variables such as intervention engagement might add more substance to smoking cessation studies.
Department of Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. ralf.schwarzer@fu-berlin.de
Ralf
R
Schwarzer
Lars
L
Satow
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult