Treating Chinese Smokers With Interactive Expert System

The research study examines the feasibility, implementation, and efficacy of the interactive expert system intervention for smoking cessation in the Chinese American population. The primary specific aim of the proposed research is to test the following hypotheses: 1) Proactive recruitment approach will be more effective in recruiting smokers who are in precontemplation (no intent to quit smoking in the next 6 months) than a reactive approach. 2) Participants in the experimental condition receiving the interactive stage-matched expert system intervention plus a manual will be more likely to be abstinent at 12 and 18 than those in the control condition receiving a non-interactive standard manual. 3) Participants receiving the interactive expert system intervention will be more likely to report at least one quit attempt than those in the control condition at months 6, 12, and 18. 4) Participants receiving the interactive expert system intervention will be more likely to have a significant decrease in number of cigarettes smoked than those in the control condition at months 3, 6, 12, and 18. After the intervention adaptation and the pilot testing phase of study procedures, the study will achieve the above aims using a randomized trial targeting 400 Chinese American Smokers with follow-up assessments at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months after baseline.

Inclusion criteria

• residents of the San Francisco Bay Area
• age 18 or older
• self-identified as Chinese in ethnicity
• able to read English or Chinese
• have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime
• currently smoke at least 5 cigarettes in the past 7 days

Exclusion criteria

• currently engaging in other smoking cessation efforts.