TAILORING INFORMATION TO ENHANCE QUITTING IN SMOKERS WITH LOW MOTIVATION TO QUIT - 3 BASIC EFFICACY QUESTIONS

Tailoring information to a target individual's features is a promising line of development in self-help interventions. In this article, 752 smokers with explicit low intention to quit were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 conditions: (a) multiple tailored letters with self-help guide, (b) multiple tailored letters only, (c) a single tailored letter with a self-help guide, (d) a single tailored letter only, or (e) a nontai lored intervention. Follow-up assessment took place 4 months after the intervention. Results indicated that the single tailored intervention only had no surplus value compared with a nontailored look-alike inte rvention. The addition of a self-help guide to a tailored intervention was only useful in highly dependent smokers, and multiple tailoring w as more effective than single tailoring. It remains important to eluci date why and for whom certain tailored interventions are more effectiv e.