Long-term engagement in smoking cessation campaign: A mixed methods randomized trial

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Health Communication

Background:

• A social marketing campaign utilized a long-term engagement (LTE) intervention to motivate Canadian adult commercial tobacco users (35-64 years) to quit.
• The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and appeal of LTE within this campaign.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the effectiveness of a long-term engagement intervention in a social marketing campaign.
• To assess the appeal and impact of LTE on motivating smoking cessation attempts.

Main Methods:

• 3,199 Canadian adult smokers (35-64) were recruited via social media and randomized into intervention and control groups.
• The intervention group received monthly engagement activities, surveys, feedback opportunities, incentives, and knowledge exchange over two years.
• Both groups completed bi-annual surveys for six months.

Main Results:

• Intervention participants showed high engagement with emails and significantly increased campaign awareness and social media interaction.
• Participants in the LTE group demonstrated higher rates of actions towards quitting and actual quit attempts compared to the control group.
• Participants reported increased motivation, support, and a sense of belonging.

Conclusions:

• Meaningful long-term engagement, when integrated into social marketing, shows promise for promoting smoking cessation behaviors in adults.
• Active, holistic, and empathetic long-term engagement amplifies social marketing campaign effects for smoking cessation.
• The intervention facilitated real-time learning for continuous campaign improvement.