REaching and Treating LGBT Smokers: The Internet

Smoking rates are significantly higher among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations compared to the general population. LGBT individuals may be at increased risk for experiencing psychosocial issues, e.g., negative moods, stress, alcohol/drug use, that have been associated with smoking treatment failure in other groups of smokers. Technology, such as the Internet and telephone, can be an effective method to reach a large number of smokers and may be particularly effective in reaching hidden populations. Thus, the study seeks to examine whether Internet-based counseling and/or telephone counseling can improve quit rates for LGBT smokers.

Participants (N=600) will be randomly assigned to one of four conditions: 1) a Mail-based Self Help (MSH) treatment; 2) MSH plus an Internet-based Smoking Treatment (IST); MSH plus Telephone Counseling (TC) or 4) MSH plus IST plus TC. Participants in the MSH condition will receive a self-help smoking cessation manual. In the IST condition, participants will receive the manual plus access to an Internet-based intervention that includes social support. In the TC condition, participants will receive the manual plus 6 telephone-based counseling sessions. In the fourth condition, participants will receive the manual plus access to an Internet-based intervention plus telephone counseling. Before starting treatment, participants will complete questionnaires on smoking, nicotine dependence, demographics, negative mood, and alcohol use. Participants will be contacted at 3, 6, and 12 months after enrollment to determine whether they are smoking. The data will be analyzed to compare the efficacy of the four treatments and to examine the possible influence of existing social networks and level of negative mood on treatment outcome and to examine the possible influence of residency (rural versus urban) on use of the Internet-based treatment.