title: Assessing preferences for a university-based smoking cessation program in Lebanon: a discrete choice experiment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Smoking prevalence rates in Lebanon are among the highest in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Few smoking cessation programs are offered in Lebanon and little is known about the preferences of Lebanese smokers for cessation treatment programs.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To establish which attributes of smoking cessation programs are most important to Lebanese smokers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Smokers at the American University of Beirut were surveyed to elicit their preferences for, and tradeoffs between the attributes of a hypothetical university-based smoking cessation program. Preferences for medication type/mechanism, risk of benign side effects, availability of support, distance traveled to obtain medication, and price of complete treatment were assessed using the discrete choice experiment method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The smokers' responses (N = 191) to changes in attributes were statistically significant. Smokers were willing to make trade-offs between attributes. On average, smokers were willing to pay LBP 103,000 (USD 69) for cessation support. Respondents were willing to give up LBP 105,000 (USD 70) to avoid an additional 10% risk of minor side effects and LBP 18,000 (USD 12) to avoid an addition kilometer of travel to the nearest pharmacy. Heavy smokers were the least responsive group and had the lowest demand elasticities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Student smokers were willing to participate in a relatively complex exercise that weighs the advantages and disadvantages of a hypothetical smoking cessation program. Overall they were less interested in the pill form of smoking cessation treatment, but they were willing to make tradeoffs to be smoke-free.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Policy and Management, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC; rsalloum@sc.edu.
authors.forename: Ramzi G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Salloum
authors.affiliation: Hariri School of Nursing, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon;
authors.forename: Christine W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Abbyad
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC;
authors.forename: Racquel E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Kohler
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC;
authors.forename: Allison K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kratka
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC;
authors.forename: Leighanne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Duke University, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Kathryn A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057240:Patient Preference; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult