CDC study: Smokers have misconceptions about quitline effectiveness

A tobacco quitline is an effective way to help smokers nix their addiction. But new research shows that smokers often have misconceptions about such a phoneline's benefits and role.

The study, released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, consisted of in-depth interviews with smokers nationwide to assess their understanding of the quitline number printed on cigarette warning labels.

The study specifically targeted groups that have a disproportionate share of tobacco-related deaths, including low-income, black and rural Americans.

It found that although various groups have undergone ad campaigns to expand the awareness and use of smoking-cessation phonelines, some adolescents believed that quitlines provide referrals to 'rehab,” and smokers held widely varying views about the quitline workers' qualifications.

It also found that few smokers were interested in calling the quitline.

'The results of this study indicate that people are generally familiar with the purpose of quitlines, but they have different perceptions of services provided and their operations,” according to the study. 'However, perceptions of the type of person who calls the quitline were fairly negative, and calling a quitline was largely seen as a strategy of last resort for ‘desperate' people.”

About 4,400 Iowans die each year from smoking-related diseases, such as chronic lung disease and cancers related to smoking, according to Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH reports 56 percent of adult smokers try to quit each year, but only 5 percent to 15 percent succeed.

Quitline Iowa is a free and confidential service available by phone and online to anyone aged 13 and older. Coaches talk with smokers about their health history and smoking habits before developing a plan to quit, said Jerilyn Oshel, director of the Iowa Department of Public Health's tobacco-use prevention and control division.

The division partners with the Gov. Terry Branstad's Healthiest State Initiative and the Blue Zones project.

In fiscal year 2014, some 4,200 people used to the Iowa quitline, according to an IDPH evaluation.

'Every one is different, so it's not a one-size fits all plan,” she said. The coach 'tailors the plan and works with them.”

Followup consultations are scheduled, but Oshel said if the person quitting 'craves a cigarette on a Monday and the call is scheduled for Wednesday,” he or she can talk with the coach any time. The department of public health contracts with Seattle-based Alere Wellbeing to provide highly trained coaches, she said.

IDPH has its own ad campaign but also relies on partnerships with substance-abuse groups, not-for-profit organizations and public health departments in all 99 of Iowa's counties, including the Area Substance Abuse Council in Linn County, to provide education about the quitline, she said.

'The recognition (of the quitline) isn't as high as we'd like,” IDPH's Oshel said. But those who did use the service 'were very satisfied.”

A 2014 evaluation of Quitline Iowa found 26 percent of those who used the cessation program said they had not smoked cigarettes or used other tobacco in the past 30 days. Additionally, among respondents who said they had not quit smoking cigarettes, there were statistically significant decreases in the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

The majority of those who used the service said they would recommend Quitline Iowa to a friend in need of similar services, and about 94 percent of those still smoking said they were going to keep trying to quit.

'Tobacco is a very addictive substance and we want to help more people,” Oshel said. 'There's always room for more education.”