“Like you are fooling yourself”: how the “Stoptober” temporary abstinence campaign supports Dutch smokers attempting to quit

摘要

BackgroundThe Stoptober temporary abstinence campaign challenges smokers to engage in a collective quit attempt for 28 days. The campaign is based on social contagion theory, SMART (i.e., Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-sensitive) goal setting and PRIME (i.e., Plans, Responses, Impulses, Motives and Evaluations) theory. Although Stoptober was found to yield impressive 28-day quit rates, relapse rates remained substantial. Therefore, we examined how Stoptober supported smokers in their attempt to quit and how the campaign’s effectiveness could be strengthened.