The 2016 Ferno Award Address: Three Things

Abstract

A lack of relevant research, and the likely prospect of significant clinical and public health benefit, underscore the importance of performing research on three topics related to smoking intervention: (1) researchers need to identify which contents of smoking counseling are effective; (2) researchers need to devise innovative strategies that use healthcare systems as conduits of smoking treatment delivery outside of clinical contacts; and (3) researchers need to use factorial designs to guide their development of smoking treatments. Research on these topics should yield complementary evidence that guides the development of more effective smoking treatments.

Effects of motivation phase intervention components on quit attempts in smokers unwilling to quit: A factorial experiment

“…It is unclear why receipt of both components suppressed quit attempts. An advantage of the factorial experiment is that it can reveal such interactions; the causes of such interactions remain unclear (Baker, 2017;Baker et al, 2017).…”

Randomized factorial experiment of components of the SmokeFree Baby smartphone application to aid smoking cessation in pregnancy

“…of specific intervention components and using factorial designs to guide intervention development have been recognized as important but relatively neglected areas of smoking cessation research [15]. Only a few studies have reported using this approach to inform the development of DBCIs in other areas, e.g., to prevent substance use [16] and to reduce alcohol consumption [17].…”

Offering smoking treatment to primary care patients in two Wisconsin healthcare systems: Who chooses smoking reduction versus cessation?

“…Even though the number of smokers interested in reduction treatment constituted only about 10% of all those asked about treatment interest in their clinic visits, typically only 5–10% of smokers will accept an offer to enter cessation treatment. 5,8,19,20 Moreover, of those smokers who were willing to reduce and were randomized to receive Motivation phase treatment, a meaningful portion (19%) opted to receive cessation treatment after receiving brief Motivation phase treatment. 3 …”

“…However, at any point in time, the great majority of smokers are unwilling to make a quit attempt. 3–8 Thus, most smokers leave health care visits without treatment for tobacco dependence. 8–10 …”