Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation (COMMIT): changes in community attitudes toward cigarette smoking

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Behavior Research
• Community Interventions

Background:

• Smoking cessation remains a significant public health challenge.
• Community-based interventions are crucial for widespread behavior change.
• The Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation (COMMIT) aimed to assess the impact of a comprehensive intervention on smoking attitudes and norms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the COMMIT intervention in shifting community attitudes towards smoking.
• To test if smoking's priority as a public health problem increased more in intervention communities.
• To determine if non-smoking supportive norms and values were enhanced more in intervention communities.

Main Methods:

• A 4-year (1989-1992) community-based smoking control intervention was implemented in selected communities.
• Eleven matched pairs of communities were used, with one community in each pair randomly assigned to the intervention.
• Community attitudes were assessed via cross-sectional surveys (1989, 1993) and a cohort study.

Main Results:

• Heavy smokers in intervention communities showed significant changes in beliefs about smoking as a public health problem.
• While no overall intervention-comparison difference was found for community-wide norms, activity level correlated with change.
• Light-to-moderate smokers in intervention communities developed stronger beliefs about smoking's public health seriousness.

Conclusions:

• The COMMIT intervention positively influenced beliefs about smoking as a public health issue, particularly among heavy smokers.
• Community-level interventions can impact individual attitudes, even without significant overall community norm shifts.
• Findings underscore the public health implications of targeting smoking cessation through community-based strategies.