UTEP women kick butt! Development, implementation, and evaluation of a Web-based smoking cessation intervention targeted to Hispanic female college students.

摘要

The present research examined the potential of a web-based smoking cessation intervention targeted toward Hispanic female college students to help college age women to quit smoking. Study 1 involved the gathering of focus group data to determine the content and tone of the intervention materials. Study 2 involved a controlled experiment to determine the efficacy of a web-based smoking cessation intervention on the UTEP campus, using measures from the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to assess outcome. Study 3 involved the qualitative evaluation of the website by examining online survey results, the amount of time spent on each component of the website, and in-depth personal interviews. Women at UTEP did not quit smoking as a result of this intervention, nor were there significant findings regarding the TTM measures. However, the intervention may have helped women in precontemplation progress to the stage of contemplation. The women enjoyed the website and offered comments and criticisms that are discussed in study 3. In all, the intervention group did not read the material, resulting in only minor differences between the experimental and control groups. Future research should discover methods to entice participants to read the intervention material more closely, and perhaps should focus on women who are ready to quit smoking.