“Helpers Program”: A Pilot Test of Tobacco Cessation Brief Intervention Training for Three Worksite Communities

Effective tobacco cessation treatments are more widely available than ever before, yet 80% of tobacco users attempt to quit without assistance. Quit lines and worksite-sponsored cessation programs are effective and highly accessible, but are limited by low utilization. Tobacco cessation brief interventions (BI) increase quit rates and use of effective treatments, but BI training has been focused on healthcare professionals, thus limiting potential reach and population impact of BIs.

The “Helpers Program” offers Web-based BI training and cessation information to activate social networks of tobacco users to encourage quitting and use of effective treatment. Helpers is being offered to employees of three corporations (n=131,590 combined employees) in conjunction with Free and Clear's (F&C) telephone/Web-based cessation services. Employees are invited to visit the “Helpers” Web-site to learn how to help a tobacco user quit and to refer to F&C's Quit for Life™ Program. Each corporation uses a different strategy to disseminate information about the Helpers Program to employees. Evaluation measures include: web-site utilization, training completion, post-training changes in knowledge and self-efficacy with delivery of BIs, referrals and enrollments to F&C, and a follow-up survey of employees' use of BI training.

Four weeks after corporations' staggered launch: 3,270 employees registered on the Helpers Web-site; 1,269 registered for BI training; 670 completed training; 297 visited F&C's Web-site; 117 made e-mail or letter referrals. The pilot study will conclude 3/31/08. We will present final results including patterns of Web-site use, referral activity, use of BI training, and results from follow-up survey.