Development, implementation and assessment of a smoking cessation programme for adolescents and young adults

Aim: Assessment of the smoking cessation programme "Just be smokefree". Method: Follow-up data assessment of the participants who registered for the programme between April 2002 and March 2003. Intervention: "Just be Smokefree" is a smoking cessation programme targeting adolescents and young adults. Target groups are not only smokers, but also non- and ex-smokers. Moreover the project takes into account the different stages smokers undergo with regard to their motivation to stop smoking. Smokers who are not prepared to quit smoking are offered an individualised "smoker's profile" in order to sensitise them to their smoking behaviour, motives and risk situations. Smokers who are prepared to give up, are provided with a self-help cessation manual. As an incentive, on four occasions per year, participants can win cash prizes of up to 1,000 Euro. Results: From April 2002 to March 2003, 1,417 smokers registered for the programme, of which 1,265 wanted to quit and 152 were interested in a "smoker's profile". The mean age of the participants was 21.5 years and 56.7% were female. In addition, 2,132 used the internet page for the programme. 408 smokers took part in the follow-up measurement (retention rate 32.3%). Of these, 46.1% (N = 188) reported to have ceased to smoke. In a projected analysis considering those who did not take part in the follow-up measurement as smokers - the quit rate was 14.9%. Conclusions: A large number of smoking adolescents and young adults were covered by the programme. The quit rate can be considered as good, also in comparison to international smoking cessation studies.