Improving Quitline Support Study

This study seeks to evaluate ways to improve outcomes for low-education, uninsured or Medicaid-eligible smokers who do not successfully quit with standard telephone quit line treatment. The study will use an efficient factorial study design to evaluate four evidence-based strategies to improve follow-up care offered by the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line (WTQL) to socioeconomically disadvantaged callers who report smoking four months following initial WTQL treatment comprising a single counseling call and 2-week supply of a single nicotine replacement therapy. These strategies include: increasing the intensity of nicotine replacement medication (among those medically cleared to use such medications), increasing the intensity of WTQL counseling, helping callers enroll in an evidence-based smoking cessation texting support program (SmokefreeTXT), and offering moderate financial incentives for engagement in counseling and SmokefreeTXT.

This study seeks to evaluate ways to improve outcomes for low-education, uninsured or Medicaid-eligible smokers who do not successfully quit with standard telephone quit line treatment. The study will use an efficient factorial study design to evaluate four evidence-based strategies to improve follow-up care offered by the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line (WTQL) to socioeconomically disadvantaged callers who report smoking four months following initial WTQL treatment comprising a single counseling call and 2-week supply of a single nicotine replacement therapy. The four factors (strategies) to be studied include: (1) Quit line counseling intensity (1 vs 4 proactive calls); (2) Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) intensity (Patch for 2 weeks vs Patch+Lozenge for 4 weeks); (3) SmokefreeTXT text messages (proactive enrollment vs none); and (4) financial incentives for treatment engagement (vs none). The study design is a fully-crossed 4-factor factorial design. The primary aim is: Assessment of the main and interactive effects of the four treatment factors on biochemically-confirmed 7-day point-prevalence abstinence at the 6-month followup. Secondary aims include testing: (1) self-reported abstinence at 12 weeks post-quit; (2) continuous abstinence between 1 and 6 months; (3) cost-effectiveness; and (4) moderators of treatment engagement and mediators of treatment effectiveness on 6-month abstinence.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

1. Uninsured, covered by BadgerCareWisconsin or another Medicaid program, or has no more than a high school education
2. Lives in Wisconsin
3. Age 18 or older
4. English speaking
5. Must provide a unique telephone number not already registered in the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line (WTQL) database for this study (to prevent duplicate enrollment and to ensure that only one person per household enrolls)
6. Must have completed standard WTQL treatment including at least one counseling call 2.5-18 months prior to study recruitment
7. Reported smoking at least 6 of the last 7 days at the WTQL follow-up enrollment call (2.5-18 months after completing standard WTQL treatment), with at least 5 cigarettes smoked on 1 or more days
8. Willing to set a new quit day within 2 weeks

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, or planning to become pregnant in the next 6 months at the time of study enrollment