title: Motivating Low Socioeconomic Status Smokers to Accept Evidence-Based Smoking Cessation Treatment: A Brief Intervention for the Community Agency Setting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Individuals of low socioeconomic status (SES), smoke at very high rates but make fewer and less successful quit attempts than do other smokers. Low-SES smokers have specific beliefs about smoking and quitting that may serve as barriers to making quit attempts. The purpose of this study was to test the impact of a brief intervention addressing these beliefs on making calls to a telephone quit line.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of 522 smokers entering the study at 5 Wisconsin Salvation Army (SA) sites, 102 expressed motivation to quit and served as a comparison group. The remaining 420 smokers were not motivated to quit and were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: an intervention group who received brief counseling focused on cessation goals and beliefs, an attention-control group, and a low contact control group. The primary outcome was the rate at which smokers made a call to the Wisconsin tobacco quit line (WTQL) during their SA visit. Secondary outcome measures included motivational variables, stage of change, changes in beliefs about smoking and quitting, and self-reported abstinence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Unmotivated participants in the intervention condition called the WTQL at a significantly higher rate (12.2%) than did those in the 2 control conditions (2.2% and 1.4%) (p < .01) and approached the rate of calling by participants who were initially motivated to quit (15.7%). Intervention condition participants also showed improved motivation to quit and stage of change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A brief, targeted motivational intervention focusing on cessation goals and beliefs increased the initiation of an evidence-based tobacco cessation treatment by low-SES smokers.
authors.affiliation: Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; bc1@ctri.wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Bruce A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Christiansen
authors.affiliation: Social Services Department, Salvation Army of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, Wauwatosa, WI.
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Reeder
authors.affiliation: Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI;
authors.forename: Erin G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: TerBeek
authors.affiliation: Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI;
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Fiore
authors.affiliation: Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI;
authors.forename: Timothy B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003153:Community Health Services; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011203:Poverty; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014922:Wisconsin