'WeChat WeQuit' Smoking Cessation Program

The Efficacy of WeChat Based Interventions ('WeChat WeQuit' Program) for Smoking Cessation in China: a Randomized Trial

This proposed project is to assess whether WeChat-based smoking cessation interventions ('WeChat WeQuit' program) will be effective at helping people in China who smoke, to quit.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Smoking Cessation; Cigarette Smoking
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 2000
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• China
  • Zhejiang
    • Hanzhou, Zhejiang, China, 360000
      • Yanhui Liao

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Daily Chinese cigarette smokers.
2. 18 years of age and older living.
3. Being able to read and write in Chinese.
4. Owning a smartphone and knowing how to use WeChat.
5. Willing to make an attempt to quit smoking in the next month.
6. Willing to provide informed consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Nonsmokers.
2. Smokers without attempt to quit.
3. Below 18 years old.
4. Unable to use smartphone and WeChat.
5. Unable to read and write in Chinese.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention Group; Participants in the intervention group will receive the 'WeChat WeQuit' program from the WeChat subscription account. The period for intervention was 14 weeks, including 2-week quiting preparation intervention and 12-week postquit intervention. The number of messages/pictures/audios received by participants will gradually decrease (will be intensively sent to them during 2-week prequit and 4-week postquit, and less intensively during 5-week to 12-week postquit), and follow-up questionnaires were sent only once a month in 14-28 weeks (week 16, 20, and 26 after the quit date). A WeChat group was created for answering questions from participants, and sharing the latest resources related to quitting smoking, and promoting communication between participants.	Behavioral: Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention; Participants who allocate to the intervention group will receive regular smoking cessation related information by professional team.
No Intervention: Control Group; Control group participants will not receive any smoking cessation messages by professional team. They will receive messages of thanking them for being in the study and reminding them of the time until their free month at the end of follow up. In order to measure the main two outcomes (self-reported continuous smoking abstinence and point prevalence of abstinence), continuous smoking abstinence, point prevalence of abstinence, how many cigarettes per day during the last week if they are still smoking will be checked at week 1, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 26 points.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Biochemically Validated Continuously Abstinence	The primary outcome will be biochemical validation of self-reported 26-week continuous smoking abstinence	26 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-reported 7-day Point Abstinence	Self-reported 7-day point-prevalence abstinence at week 1, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 26 after quit date.	26 weeks
Self-reported Continuous Abstinence	Self-reported continuous smoking abstinence rate at weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 26 after the quit date.	26 weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Smoking Reduction and Participation	Reductions in number of cigarettes smoked per day and rates of participation in and completion of smoking-cessation programs.	26 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 19, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 16, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): November 16, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 25, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 25, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): May 30, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 2, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 30, 2022
• Last Verified: November 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 2017S015

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Yes
• IPD Plan Description: All individual participant data (without personal information) will be included in submission and will be available to other researchers.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: Study Protocol; Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP); Analytic Code

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No