EFFECTIVENESS OF ANTISMOKING TELEPHONE HELPLINE - FOLLOW-UP SURVEY

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of an antismoking campaign co nducted by the Health Education Board for Scotland. Design: Descriptiv e survey of adult callers to a telephone helpline (Smokeline) for stop ping smoking; panel study of a random sample of adult callers; assessm ent of changes in prevalence of smoking in Scotland before and after i ntroduction of the helpline Setting: Telephone helpline. Subjects: Cal lers to Smokeline over the initial one year period. Detailed informati on was collected on a 10% sample (n = 8541). A cohort of adult smokers who called Smokeline (total n = 848) was followed up by telephone int erview three weeks, six months, and one year after the initial call. M ain outcome measures: Numbers of adult smokers calling helpline; chang es in smoking behaviour, especially stopping smoking among cohort memb ers; and changes in prevalence of smoking in the general population. R esults: An estimated 82 782 regular adult smokers made genuine contact with Smokeline over the year, representing about 5.9% of all adult sm okers in Scotland. At one year 143 of the cohort of 848 callers (23.6% ; 95% confidence interval 20.2% to 27.0%) reported that they had stopp ed smoking, and 534 (88.0%; 85.4% to 90.6%) reported having made some change, About 19 500 (16 700 to 22 350) adult smokers, equivalent to 1 .4% (1.2% to 1.6%) of the mean adult smoking population, stopped smoki ng with direct help from Smokeline. During the second year of the camp aign (1994) smoking prevalence among 25-65 year olds in Scotland was 6 % (2.0% to 10.0%) lower than it had been before the start of the Campa ign. Conclusion: The Health Education Board for Scotland's antismoking campaign reached a high number of adult smokers, was associated with a highly acceptable quit rate among adults given direct help through S mokeline, and contributed considerably to an accelerated decline in sm oking prevalence in Scotland.