Text messaging promoting physician-led brief intervention tobacco cessation: A before-and-after study among physicians in three tertiary hospitals in Nigeria.

Physician-led smoking cessation services are suboptimal in Nigeria. This study evaluated a text messaging intervention designed to increase the knowledge and practices of physicians in Nigeria to help smokers quit. Using a pre-post study design, all physicians ( = 946) in 3 tertiary care hospitals located in 3 geopolitical zones in Nigeria were sent 2-3 text messages weekly over a 13-week period to create awareness and improve cessation practices using the "Ask, Advise and Refer" (AAR) model.