Smoking Cessation Support for Patients With Rheumatologic Diseases Via WhatsApp
July 21, 2025 updated by: Dilek KARADOĞAN, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Training and Research Hospital
The Effect of Supporting Routine Smoking Cessation Interventions With Whatsapp-mediated Motivational Information on Smoking Cessation Success in Active Smokers With Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases: A Randomized Controlled Study
Smoking cessation support for patients with rheumatologist diseases is an underestimated issue.
In the previous prospective cohort study the investigators determined that with the brief cessation interventions 63.5% of smokers with rheumatologic diseases were willing to quit and the rest 36.4% were not willing.
Among the willing group the highest quit rate was detected in the group that admitted to smoking cessation clinic.
Therefore to increase the willingness to quit as well as to increase the Access to evidence based tobacco cessation support using new comminication technologies can be relevant.
Investigators' aim in this study is to examine the effect of including WhatsApp in the routine smoking cessation practices on the quitting success of active smokers with rheumatic diseases who apply to the Rheumatology outpatient clinic.
Study Overview
Status
Terminated
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
In this randomized controlled study, the sample will be randomly divided to 2 arms. In one arm, usual care arm, smoker patients with rheumatologist diseases will be implemented brief smoking cessation interventions and referred to quit lines or smoking cessation services and also directly contacted to get an appointment from the cessation clinic. In the other arm, the intervention arm, smoker patients with rheumatologist diseases will be implemented brief tobacco cessation interventions and directly contacted to get an appointment from cessation clinic and will be send periodically motivational and informative text messages regarding tobacco cessation via WhatsApp.
Primary outcome measures will be the quit rate of both arms at 3rd, 6th and 12th month.
Secondary outcomes will be access to evidence based smoking cessation support, admission rate of smoking cessation clinic and treatment use duration of cessation medications.
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Actual)
220
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.
Study Locations
-
-
-
Rize, Turkey
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Training and Research Hospital
-
-
Participation Criteria
Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
- Adult
- Older Adult
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Patients applying to the rheumatology outpatient clinic
- Those aged 18 and over
- Those who are active smokers
- Those diagnosed with inflammatory rheumatic disease
- Those who gave informed written consent to participate in the study
Exclusion Criteria:
- Those with active psychiatric disease diagnoses such as psychosis, major depression, schizophrenia among their current diagnoses
- Those with cognitive dysfunction
Study Plan
This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Treatment
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Active Comparator: Usual care
Usual care arm, smoker patients with rheumatologist diseases will be implemented brief smoking cessation interventions and referred to quit lines or smoking cessation services and also directly contacted to get an appointment from the cessation clinic.
|
The information article that was prepared by taking the opinions of academics experienced in adult education, and were prepared as a video by the primary Rheumatologist who performs the randomization and will be shared in the Whatsapp group as information.
Additionally, information will be provided once a week regarding the appointment date of the smoking cessation clinic.
|
|
Experimental: Intervention
The intervention arm, smoker patients with rheumatologist diseases will be implemented brief tobacco cessation interventions and directly contacted to get an appointment from cessation clinic and will be send periodically motivational and informative text messages regarding tobacco cessation via WhatsApp.
|
The information article that was prepared by taking the opinions of academics experienced in adult education, and were prepared as a video by the primary Rheumatologist who performs the randomization and will be shared in the Whatsapp group as information.
Additionally, information will be provided once a week regarding the appointment date of the smoking cessation clinic.
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Rate of participants with successful quit attempt
Time Frame: 3-6 and 12 months after the randomization
|
Successful quitter: sustained abstinence since the target quit date will be asked and validated by exhaled breath carbon monoxide measure.
|
3-6 and 12 months after the randomization
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Access to evidence based cessation support
Time Frame: Within one year after the randomization
|
Admitters to cessation clinics
|
Within one year after the randomization
|
Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Osman Cüre, M.D, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Department of Rheumatology
Publications and helpful links
The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.
Study record dates
These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Actual)
November 10, 2023
Primary Completion (Actual)
May 1, 2025
Study Completion (Actual)
June 30, 2025
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
December 13, 2023
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
January 12, 2024
First Posted (Actual)
January 23, 2024
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
July 25, 2025
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
July 21, 2025
Last Verified
July 1, 2025
More Information
Terms related to this study
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- SCRW
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
NO
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
No
product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.
No
This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.