Personal Network Changes among Smoking Relapse Prevention Intervention Participants

Tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and relapse rates among those who quit smoking are alarmingly high. Personal networks (PNs) substantially influence smoking and quitting behaviors but have not been incorporated into relapse prevention approaches. Thus, we carried out a pilot study employing PNs in relapse prevention and measured changes in participants' PNs.

This pilot study was a single-group pre-post intervention where participants received Helpers Stay Quit (HSQ), a behavioral relapse prevention intervention we designed to instruct persons who recently quit smoking to deliver a "helping conversation" (HC) to encourage others to quit smoking.

The majority of the 64 participants abstained from smoking (86%) and had HCs (89%). Those who abstained from smoking throughout the study significantly increased the number of non-family members and individuals who smoke in their networks at follow-up, which increased their opportunities for carrying out a HC. HC recruits reported cessation-related behavior changes after receiving an HC.

This is promising evidence of the potential of HSQ to facilitate cessation in the network of those who recently quit smoking, which may benefit their ability to stay quit.