Adherence to Telemedicine versus Quitline in Rural Smoking Cessation Trial

Audience:

Connect2Quit is an RCT (N=566) that targets researchers and tests real-time Integrated Telemedicine (ITM) counseling for smoking cessation in the participant’s physician office versus in-home Quit-Line (QL) telephone counseling.

Key Points:

Across both groups, all participants received the same counseling content, consisting of 4 sessions of combined motivational interviewing and cognitive behavior therapy.

Educational Experience:

The overall number of sessions completed was 1,723 (ITM 689, QL 1034). Session length did not differ between groups. The average length of session one was 55 min.  The average length of sessions 2-4 was 34 min.  The total number of no-shows was 458 (ITM 199, QL 259).  Patient satisfaction variables had no significant differences across arms, except for the amount of participants who would recommend Connect2Quit, with slightly more in the ITM arm reporting they would (ITM no – 7, yes – 172, have already recommended – 45; QL no – 19, yes – 186, have already recommended – 27; p=0.0054).  At 6-months, most (78%) reported the length of sessions was about right.  When asked to choose the most helpful part of the program, most (60%) participants chose counseling. Overall, participants were somewhat satisfied (27%) or very satisfied (66%) with the program.  Summed and individual items on the therapeutic alliance demonstrated no significant differences across study arms.

Benefits:

Even through participants completed more QL than ITM sessions, satisfaction was equally high across conditions, and ITM participants were more likely to recommend the program to others.  Should one study arm outperform another, it will not be due to participant dissatisfaction.