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PATTERN OF USE OF REACTIVE TELEPHONE COUNSELING BY SMOKERS
Ganesh M, Verhulst S, Edson B, Hopkins-Price P, Andoh J, Preckwinkle L, and Sood A. (2006). Pattern of Use of Reactive Telephone Counseling by Smokers. Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society, 3 (Abstracts Issue), A92
RATIONALE: Reactive telephone helplines (where calls originate from smokers instead of counselors) are increasingly providing counseling services to smokers in the U.S. The objective of this study is to understand the pattern of use of reactive telephone counseling by smokers. This may allow for better resource utilization by helplines. METHODS: This is a descriptive epidemiological study of 286 adult smokers who called a toll-free reactive helpline during the 2003-2005 period and agreed to receive telephone counseling. The outcomes analyzed included total number and frequency of counseling sessions, mean duration of individual sessions and total counseling received over a median follow-up period of 356 days. RESULTS: 21.3% (61/286) of helpline callers, when offered reactive telephone counseling, chose to receive self-help printed educational materials instead. Among the callers who used counseling (225/286 or 78.7% of the total), the median duration of an individual counseling session was 6.35 minutes, the median number of calls was 1.19 per year and the median duration of total counseling received was 7.97 minutes. The duration of individual counseling session was weakly but significantly associated with race (p=0.03). The number of counseling sessions was weakly but significantly associated with age (p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Most smokers calling a reactive helpline accepted counseling services. However, the interaction between callers and counselors was brief, infrequent, and commonly limited to one session.
Pattern of use of reactive counseling
Outcome |
Mean ± Std.Dev. | Median |
Duration
of individual session (in minutes) |
8.62
± 7.66 |
6.35 |
Duration
of total counseling received (in minutes) |
15.44
± 24.66 |
7.97 |
Number
of sessions |
1.83
± 2.51 |
1.00 |
Frequency
of sessions per year |
2.81
± 4.32 |
1.19 |
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