Smokefree.Gov Website in Helping United States Federal Employees Quit Smoking

Evaluation of the Impact of a Bulletin Board on a Web-Based Smoking Cessation Intervention

RATIONALE: Stop-smoking information on the smokefree.gov website may help people quit smoking and remain a nonsmoker.

PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well the smokefree.gov website works with an electronic bulletin board in helping United States federal employees quit smoking.

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine the perception of utility of the current, publicly accessible version of the smokefree.gov website and the addition of an electronic bulletin board and its features, including open-ended comments, in promoting smoking cessation among United States federal employees who are currently smokers.
• Determine the use of this tool, in terms of average length of time spent on the website, number of page clicks, most popular page clicks, and key interest areas, among these participants.
• Determine the changes in smoking habits, in terms of smoking reduction and short- and long-term abstinence, among these participants.

OUTLINE: This is an open-label study.

Participants are encouraged to use the smokefree.gov website as frequently as needed for support and resources while trying to quit smoking and become, and remain, nonsmokers. Participants are invited to provide feedback on the usefulness of self-help guidelines and several other tools. Participants complete questionnaires evaluating the website at study entry and at 1, 3, and 6 months after study entry.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 4,200 participants will be accrued for this study.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Currently smokes > 1 cigarette daily by self reporting
• Planning to quit smoking in the next 90 days by self reporting
• Must be a federal employee or federally employed

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Performance status

• Not specified

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Not specified

Hepatic

• Not specified

Renal

• Not specified

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Any prior or concurrent therapy allowed