Motivating Low Socioeconomic Status Smokers to Accept Evidence-Based Smoking Cessation Treatment: A Brief Intervention for the Community Agency Setting.

Introduction: Individuals of low socioeconomic status (SES), smoke at very high rates but make fewer and less successful quit attempts than do other smokers. Low-SES smokers have specific beliefs about smoking and quitting that may serve as barriers to making quit attempts. The purpose of this study was to test the impact of a brief intervention addressing these beliefs on making calls to a telephone quit line.

Methods: Of 522 smokers entering the study at 5 Wisconsin Salvation Army (SA) sites, 102 expressed motivation to quit and served as a comparison group. The remaining 420 smokers were not motivated to quit and were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: an intervention group who received brief counseling focused on cessation goals and beliefs, an attention-control group, and a low contact control group. The primary outcome was the rate at which smokers made a call to the Wisconsin tobacco quit line (WTQL) during their SA visit. Secondary outcome measures included motivational variables, stage of change, changes in beliefs about smoking and quitting, and self-reported abstinence.

Results: Unmotivated participants in the intervention condition called the WTQL at a significantly higher rate (12.2%) than did those in the 2 control conditions (2.2% and 1.4%) (p < .01) and approached the rate of calling by participants who were initially motivated to quit (15.7%). Intervention condition participants also showed improved motivation to quit and stage of change.

Conclusions: A brief, targeted motivational intervention focusing on cessation goals and beliefs increased the initiation of an evidence-based tobacco cessation treatment by low-SES smokers.