Mass media based health behavior change: televised smoking cessation program

This report describes the 1-year follow-up assessment of a television-based smoking cessation program shown as a part of local news in the Los Angeles area. The post-broadcast experiences of two distinct samples was considered: individuals who wrote in for additional materials (Registrants) and a cross section sample (CS) contacted by a random survey method. Results showed significant between-group differences in demographic characteristics and smoking behavior outcomes. Compared to the CS sample, registrants displayed more quitting attempts during the 1-year follow-up period (70.7% and 49.8%) and more abstinence (6.2% and 2.4%, respectively). When compared to results from a comparison survey, both registrant and CS subjects made significantly more quitting attempts in the three week period following broadcast. In terms of abstinence, only registrant results significantly differed from the comparison survey (6.2% vs. 2.9%). Few correlates of outcome were identified. Overall, analyses suggest that the televised quit smoking program encouraged viewers to initiate more numerous attempts to quit smoking than otherwise would have been expected. In terms of maintaining nonsmoking over time, however, only registrants experienced significantly greater success than might have been observed in the general population. Implications for research and policy recommendations of televised health promotion programs are proposed.