LONG-TERM EFFECTIVENESS OF COMPUTER-GENERATED TAILORED FEEDBACK IN SMOKING CESSATION

Although tailored interventions consisting of only a few pages of info rmation lead to more quitting than no intervention in the short term, the long-term efficacy of a single tailored intervention still has to be proven. In the present study smokers were reactively recruited and randomly allocated to one of four intervention conditions: (1) outcome information, (2) self-efficacy enhancing information, (3) both sorts of information or (4) no information, Smokers in the three experimenta l groups received computer-generated tailored feedback containing the condition-specific information, by mail, The results from the 13 month s follow-up can be summarized as follows, Compared to the no informati on condition, all three experimental conditions led to significantly m ore smokers mho had engaged in 24-h quit attempts, However, no experim ental condition led to more 7-day quitting than the no information con dition, With regard to continuous abstinence, the experimental conditi on offering a combination of outcome information and self-efficacy enh ancing information had a significant effect, compared to the no inform ation condition, It is concluded that a minimal six-page tailored inte rvention can be beneficial in supporting smokers to quit smoking, even after 13 months.