Showing smokers with vascular disease images of their arteries to motivate cessation: A pilot study.

Author(s): Shahab L, Hall S, Marteau T

Affiliation(s): Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK, Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Unit, University College London, UK.

Publication date & source: 2007-05, Br J Health Psychol., 12(Pt 2):275-83.

Publication type:

OBJECTIVE: To examine the potential impact of visual personalized biomarker feedback on intention to stop smoking and to evaluate possible underlying causal pathways. DESIGN: This study is a pilot for a randomized controlled trial. Outcome measures were assessed immediately after the intervention and at 4 weeks follow-up. METHOD: Twenty-three smokers attending a cardiovascular outpatient clinic in London were randomly allocated to one of two groups: to either receive a print-out of an ultrasound image of their carotid artery showing atherosclerotic plaque alongside an image of a disease-free artery, or to receive routine verbal feedback. RESULTS: The intervention significantly increased perceptions of susceptibility to smoking-related diseases (Cohen's h=0.99) and led to increases both in engagement in smoking cessation behaviours (Cohen's h=0.79) and intentions to stop smoking (Cohn's d=0.44). The latter was moderated by self-efficacy: the intervention increased intention to stop smoking only in people with higher levels of self-efficacy with regard to stopping smoking. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides preliminary support for the potential effectiveness of personalized biomarker feedback to increase intentions to stop smoking. It also highlights the need to target and increase self-efficacy in smoking cessation interventions.