Smoking is the leading preventable cause of mortality in the U.S. According to the American Lung Association (ALA), 24% of Illinois adults and nearly 35% of Illinois youth currently smoke. While more than 70% of smokers have tried to quit, without guidance or counseling fewer than 5% will succeed. To assist smokers who wish to quit, the ALA of Illinois-Iowa, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health, developed the Illinois Tobacco Quitline. The Quitline is a toll-free, confidential service that connects smokers with trained counselors who can guide and support them through the quitting process.
To evaluate the Quitline, a random sample of Quitline callers over a 12-month period was selected to be interviewed by telephone. The interview, which averaged five minutes, asked about the callers’ perceptions of the Quitline and subsequent materials, subsequent smoking behavior, and demographic information. Telephone interviews were completed with 527 callers. The response rate was 54%, primarily because of noncontacts due to out-of-date telephone numbers. The refusal rate was 6%.
The purpose of this study is to compare Quitline callers who subsequently quit (Quitters), reduced their smoking (Cut-downers), and did not quit nor reduce their smoking (Non-quitters). In addition to descriptive statistics, crosstabulations with chi-tests were run on nominal variables and ANOVA was utilized in comparing continuous variables. Nearly half (49%) of the respondents were Non-quitters, over one-third (36%) were Cut-downers, and 15% were Quitters. No significant difference was found between smoking behavior and the number of times participants called the Quitline, although few people in any of the three groups called the Quitline more than once. However, the vast majority of the Quitters (90%) said they called only once because they received what was needed during this first call, compared to 69% of the Cut-downers and 50% of the Non-quitters. A significant association was found between smoking behavior and respondents’ motivation to quit. Not surprisingly, Quitters reported more motivation to quit (71%) than Cut-downers (62%) and Non-quitters (48%). When asked if they had tried to quit for at least 24 hours since calling the Quitline, 82% of the Cut-downers and 72% of the Non-quitters said yes. No significant associations were found between smoking behavior and whether respondents had tried to quit before or the number of times they had tried to quit. Also, no significant associations were found between smoking behavior and the demographic characteristics of gender, race, or age.