Computer-Assisted, Counselor-Delivered Smoking Cessation Counseling for Community College Students: Intervention Approach and Sample Characteristics

ABSTRACT

This report presents the experimental approach and baseline findings from “Look at Your Health,” an ongoing study to develop and evaluate a computer-assisted, counselor-delivered smoking cessation program for community college students. It describes the expert system software program used for data collection and for provision of tailored feedback, individualized quitting strategies, and personalized newsletters. The transtheoretical model of change, the health belief model, and motivational interviewing provided the theoretical framework for the experimental cohort. Intervention participants received individual counseling, completed computerized questionnaires, performed measures of spirometric lung functioning and carbon monoxide levels, and were given a calculated lung age. At baseline, participants exhibited measurable tobacco-related health problems and an optimism bias. Addressing this optimism bias appropriately might lead smokers to progress through the stages of smoking cessation toward complete abstinence.

KEYWORDS:

• Smoking cessation
• prevention
• interviews
• behavioral medicine