Initial evaluation of a real-world self-help smoking cessation programme for adolescents and young adults

There is a lack of effective smoking cessation programmes for young people, despite the urgent need for them. The present study reports the initial results of a real-world self-help cessation programme which also contained a “quit and win”-contest component designed for adolescents and young adults. Consecutive registrants (N = 1265) were surveyed 11 to 23 months after they registered to the programme to assess continuous abstinence. Results must be interpreted cautiously because this is an uncontrolled study with a 20.7% response rate (N = 262). The programme was assessed positively by the participants. Results showed an 8.5% intention-to-treat quit rate with an average duration of 51.30 weeks continuous abstinence. Predictors for successful smoking were occasional smoking (not daily smoking) and older age.