title: Predictors of retention in a randomised trial of smoking cessation in low-socioeconomic status Australian smokers.
abstract: Little is known about the factors associated with retention in smoking cessation trials, especially for low-socioeconomic status (low-SES) smokers. This study examined the factors associated with retention of low-SES smokers in the Australian Financial Interventions for Smoking Cessation Among Low-Income Smokers (FISCALS) trial.
  
  
  
  A two-group parallel block randomised open-label trial with allocation concealment.
  
  
  
  Australia. The study was conducted primarily by telephone-based interviews with nicotine replacement therapy delivered via mail.
  
  
  
  1047 low-SES smokers interested in quitting smoking were randomised.
  
  
  
  Participants completed computer assisted telephone interviews (CATIs) at baseline, 2-month and 8-month follow-up. Smoking-related, substance use, mental or physical health, general psychological constructs, sociodemographic and recruitment sources association with retention at 8-month follow-up were examined using binary logistic regression.
  
  
  
  946 participants (90%) completed the 2-month follow-up interview and 880 participants (84%) completed the 8-month follow-up interview. Retention at 8-months was associated with higher motivation to quit (OR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.27 p<0.01), more recent quit attempts (OR: 1.20; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.40 p<0.05), increasing age (OR: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.07 p<0.01), and higher level of education (OR: 2.24; 95% CI: 1.45, 3.46 p<0.01). Lower retention at 8-months occurred for those participants recruited from posters placed in Department of Human Service Centrelink Offices (OR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.89, p<0.05) compared to participants recruited from Quitline services. No significant differences in retention were found for participants recruited via newspaper advertisements or word of mouth compared to Quitline services. No significant associations were found between health-related or behavioural factors and retention.
  
  
  
  In the context of high overall retention rates from disadvantaged smokers in a randomised trial, retention was greater in those smokers with higher motivation to quit, more recent quit attempts, increased age, higher level of education and for those recruited through Quitline or newspaper advertisements.
authors.affiliation: National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. Electronic address: r.courtney@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Courtney
authors.affiliation: National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Clare
authors.affiliation: National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia.
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Boland
authors.affiliation: National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia; School of Psychology, UNSW, Australia. Electronic address: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5324-0732.
authors.forename: Kristy A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Martire
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine & Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle, Australia.
authors.forename: Billie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bonevski
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, United States.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siahpush
authors.affiliation: Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, Cancer Council Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Borland
authors.affiliation: School of Human, Health and Social Sciences, Central Queensland University, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Doran
authors.affiliation: UCL Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, UK.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: West
authors.affiliation: National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farrell
authors.affiliation: National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia.
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Mattick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D000073865:Cigarette Smoking / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011203:Poverty; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D017010:Reminder Systems; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Method; Randomized controlled trial; Retention; Smoking cessation; Socioeconomic factors