Amercian Cancer Society Tests Online Cessation Programs

[Donna]

Building on the success of their telephone counseling, the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org (http://www.cancer.org/)) has launched QuitLink, which is an Internet-based clinical trial. The study will include 6,000 smokers over age 18 and participants will be randomly assigned to six different programs, each of which uses a different methodology. Services will be provided to the participants at no cost. Progress will be checked 3, 6, and 12 months after enrolling. According to the ACS, the study is the largest Web-based trial of smoking cessation programs ever conducted in the United States. After the study is completed, the ACS will analyze the data to determine which online methods are the most efficacious.

Enrollment forms can be found at http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/PED_10_Quitline_1.asp?sitearea=PED

[Donna]

The Journal of Medical Internet Research published a study comparing two online smoking cessation programs. The author concluded that a more comprehensive online smoking cessation program is more effective than a shorter one. The study can be found at http://www.jmir.org/2005/1/e2/ .