Proactive Telephone Smoking Cessation Counseling Tailored to Parents: Results of a Randomized Controlled Effectiveness Trial

A recent Dutch efficacy trial showed the efficacy of a telephone smoking cessation counseling tailored to smoking parents. Currently, it is unknown whether such telephone counseling would be effective under more real-world conditions. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of parent-tailored telephone smoking cessation counseling in a two-arm randomized controlled effectiveness trial and whether the effectiveness depended on the recruitment approaches that were used to recruit parents (mass media vs. health care). In total, 87 parents received either telephone counseling (intervention) or a self-help brochure (control). Parents were asked to complete questionnaires at baseline and three months post-intervention. Results showed that the odds of reporting 7-day point-prevalence abstinence at three months post-intervention was 7.54 higher for parents who received telephone counseling than for parents in the control condition (53.3% vs. 13.2%, 95% CI = 2.49–22.84). Because inclusion was lower than anticipated, interaction-effects of condition and recruitment approach could not be interpreted. The present study demonstrates that the parent-tailored smoking cessation telephone counseling is effective in helping parents to quit smoking. Yet, before large-scale implementation, future research should focus on how recruitment of parents via the recruitment approaches could be improved.