Using email counseling for smoking cessation: Evidence of feasibility, acceptability, and cost in a college population

Objectives: Few smoking cessation interventions have made extensive use of email. This study set out to document how an email-based smoking cessation program would be received by college smokers, who were actively recruited to participate. Methods: Participants (N=48) received a moderately intensive, email-based, smoking cessation intervention Measures for this study were derived from baseline, 3, and 6 months surveys, from the computer records of email participation associated with this study, and from counselor records of their time use. Results: Twelve emails on average were sent out to each participants over the course of 6 months. Ninety-one percent of participants reported reading all or most of the emails and 72.7 % replied to at least one of the emails they received. On average, participants were moderately positive about the emails, and most reported that they had liked the emails because of the social support and encouragement provided. The average cost per participant of email counseling was found to be $39.33 for 6 months of emails or $3.40 per email sent. Conclusions: These findings offer some evidence of feasibility of an email-based smoking cessation intervention.