Cancer Control Research
3R01CA078206-04S1
Buller, David B.
ARRESTING SMOKING UPTAKE USING INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA
AbstractSmoking prevalence among adolescents is once again on the rise.
Adolescents are often motivated and try to quit, but very few existing
adolescent cessation programs showed longterm effectiveness. A new
advance in cessation counseling uses computer systems to tailor messages
to gender, ethnicity, and stage of change toward cessation. However,
these systems are not configured for majority of adolescent smokers who
are in thr process of uptake and smoke intermittently, because they assume
regular smoking and nicotine dependence. The systems also do not take
full advantage of the latest advances in computer and media technologies
that can be distributed widely over the global information network and
that can be configured by the smoker to self-tailor counseling. in this
four-phase project, a computerized tailoring cessation counseling system
will be designed for smokers aged 12-15 that matches messages to stage of
uptake using the next generation of computer technology, interactive
multimedia. Phase I will be devoted to formative research (adolescent
survey, adolescent and teacher focus groups, computer use study, school
policy surveys) to developing tailoring protocols for experimenters and
regular smokers (and possibly ex-smokers). Multimedia production will
occur in Phase I and modules and implementation procedures will be "beta"
tested (pilot-tested) in Phase Ii. Phase III will contain a randomized
trial on the effectiveness of the multimedia program, using a pretest-
posttest control group design with students enrolled in grades 6-9 in 30
pair-matched public schools in Tucson and Albuquerque. The multimedia
cessation program will be disseminated in Phase IV over the World Wide
Web. A feasibility study will be conducted that monitors access and use
of it by community organizations and schools serving adolescents,
especially those at high risk (e.g., low academic attainment, truancy).
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