Development and Outcomes of a Text Messaging Tobacco Cessation Intervention with Urban Adolescents

Background This paper describes the development of an urban adolescent text messaging tobacco cessation intervention and preliminary findings from a randomized, controlled trial. The authors successfully adapted a face-to-face intervention into a personalized, automated, and interactive 5-day texting protocol. Methods Respondent-driven sampling was used beginning at a community substance abuse facility. Seventy-two tobacco-dependent adolescents were randomized into an automated computer texting program that delivered either the experimental condition of 30 motivational interviewing– and social network counseling–based personalized messages or the attention control condition consisting of a texting program covering general (non–smoking-related) health habits. All teens were provided smartphones for the study and were assessed at baseline and at 1, 3, and 6 months post intervention. Analyses examined condition × time interactions. Results At 6 months, the experimental condition decreased the number of cigarettes smoked in the past 30 days, increased intentions not to smoke in the future, and increased peer social support compared with controls. Effect sizes were moderate to large. Conclusions These findings are unique, as they target urban adolescents with a mobile health format and add to the growing literature on the efficacy of text-delivered interventions.