The research also shows that young adults are less likely to use evidence-based treatments for smoking cessation such as medication, counselling or phone-based quit lines. As a result, social media-based programmes could potentially expand the reach of cessation services, especially for young adult smokers — a challenging group to reach and treat. “The social media environment can be an engaging tobacco treatment tool, even for those not ready to quit,” Ramo added. They participated in a 90-days programme called Tobacco Status Project, where they were assigned to private Facebook groups tailored to their readiness to quit smoking. The intervention methods included daily posts, a weekly live question and answer session, and weekly live cognitive behavioural counselling session with a doctoral-level smoking cessation counsellor.

Source: Hindustan Times May 26, 2018 05:21 UTC