Quitters on message

Text and video messages designed to help people quit smoking can be effective when relayed to the cellphones of quitters.

According to a Reuters story based on aNew Zealand study, those attempting to quit and receiving such messages were nearly twice as likely to be successful as those who tried to quit but didn’t receive support.

Researchers at theUniversity of Auckland, whose work was published in The Cochrane Library, found that nine per cent of would-be quitters went without cigarettes for at least six months when reminded and encouraged through cellphone messages, compared to five per cent who went it alone.

“We can’t say all text messaging interventions are going to work,” said lead author Robyn Whittaker.

“But it certainly shows there’s reason to believe that mobile phone-based interventions are a good option to think about adding to your portfolio of smoking-cessation services.”