142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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308676
CDC's Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) Campaign: State Variation in Quitline Calls during a National Tobacco Education Campaign

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Lei Zhang, PhD , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Ann Malarcher, PhD , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Steve Babb, MPH , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Nathan Mann, MS , RTI International, Chapel Hill, NC
Robert Alexander, PhD, MPH, CHES , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Introduction: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the first federally-funded national tobacco education campaign, “Tips From Former Smokers” (Tips), during March 19th-June 10th, 2012. Campaign ads, which were tagged with 1-800-QUIT-NOW, resulted in large increases in quitline calls nationwide.  The objective of this study was to examine the impact of Tips on state-specific quitline call volumes.

Methods: Tips campaign exposure was measured by gross rating points (GRPs).  State-specific calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW were assigned based on area code origin of each call. Multivariate regression was used to assess the relationship between calls to state quitlines and media market-level Tips GRPs for television and radio, while controlling for ads placed by states and market and area code characteristics.

Results: Tips GRPs were associated with significant increases in quitline calls, both nationally and in 44 states. Of these states, five experienced effects significantly larger than the national average, while three experienced significantly smaller effects than the national average. The campaign was not significantly associated with quitline calls in seven states. Of these states, three supplemented the national campaign with placements of Tips ads in their local markets using state funds; these state-purchased GRPs were associated with significant increases in quitline calls.

Conclusions: The Tips campaign increased calls to quitlines across most states, with some states experiencing greater increases in calls than the national average and others experiencing lower increases or no change. These findings underscore the importance and effectiveness of national tobacco media campaigns for reaching audiences at the state level.

Learning Areas:

Communication and informatics
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the impact of a national tobacco education campaign on calls to state quitlines Assess variations in the impact of a national tobacco education campaign across states Discuss implications of the study findings for state and local jurisdictions planning tobacco education campaigns

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the lead of the Tip campaign evaluation and quitlines.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.