- Title
- Real-time video counselling for smoking cessation in rural and remote areas
- Creator
- Byaruhanga, Judith
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2021
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- People who live in rural and remote areas are more likely to smoke tobacco than their counterparts in major cities. This body of work examined the cost-per-participant recruited via various online and traditional strategies to smoking cessation support as well as the effectiveness, connectivity and acceptability of real-time video counselling for smoking cessation in rural and remote residents. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the literature in terms of the recruitment of smokers into cessation trials, effectiveness of real-time video counselling for smoking cessation as well as the connectivity and acceptability of real-time video counselling for smoking cessation. Chapter 1 reported that there was limited evidence on the effectiveness of real-time video counselling for smoking cessation. Therefore, Chapter 2 reported on a systematic review that undertook a broader examination of the effectiveness of real-time video counselling on several health risk factors, specifically, smoking cessation, nutrition, alcohol consumption, physical activity and obesity (SNAPO). The inclusion criteria for the systematic review were randomised or cluster randomised trials of real-time video counselling for any SNAPO risk factor in any population or setting; the comparator was a no-intervention control group or any other mode of support (e.g. telephone); and an English-language publication. Thirteen eligible studies were identified, with four studies targeting smoking, three alcohol use, three physical activity and three obesity. The review suggested that real-time video counselling is potentially more effective than a control group or other modes of support in addressing physical inactivity and obesity and no less effective in modifying smoking and alcohol use. Chapter 3 explored the cost per participant recruited from rural and remote areas (n=655) into a randomised trial of real-time video counselling for smoking cessation via online and traditional strategies. The vast majority of participants (89%) were recruited via online methods, however less than 2% of participants were recruited from remote areas and no-one from very remote areas. The cost per participant recruited by the various online strategies ranged from AUS $7.29 for a local online classified website to AUS $128.67 for email. The cost per participant recruited using traditional strategies ranged from AUS $0 for word of mouth to AUS $3990.84 for telephone. Women were found to have greater odds of being recruited via online strategies into the smoking cessation trial. Chapter 4 reported the findings of a three-arm, parallel group randomised trial that randomly allocated rural and remote participants to either: 1) real-time video counselling; 2) telephone counselling; or 3) written materials only (control). Eligible participants were aged 18+ years, used tobacco daily, had access to video communication software, internet and telephone access, an e-mail address and lived in a rural or remote area of New South Wales, Australia. Participants in the real-time video counselling and telephone counselling conditions were offered up to six counselling sessions while those in the control condition were mailed written materials. The short-term follow-up assessment occurred at 4-months post-baseline. Chapter 4 found that real-time video counselling participants (18.9%) were significantly more likely than those in the written materials control group (8.9%) to achieve 7-day point prevalence abstinence at 4-months post-baseline. There was no significant difference between the video counselling and telephone counselling conditions for 7-day point prevalence abstinence at 4-months post-baseline. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in three-month prolonged abstinence or quit attempts between the video counselling and control groups or the video counselling and telephone counselling groups. Chapter 5 examined the connectivity of real-time video smoking cessation sessions and telephone calls in rural and remote locations and whether geographical remoteness and the video applications were associated with the connectivity of video or telephone sessions. There was adequate connectivity of the video intervention in terms of no echoing noise (97.8%), no loss of internet connection during the session (88.6%), no difficulty hearing the participant (88.4%) and no difficulty seeing the participant (87.5%). In more than 94% of telephone sessions there was no echoing noise, no difficulty hearing the participant and no loss of telephone line connection. Video sessions had significantly greater odds of experiencing connectivity difficulties than telephone sessions in relation to connecting to the participant at the start (OR = 5.13, 95% CI 1.88–14.00), loss of connection during the session (OR = 11.84, 95% CI 4.80–29.22) and hearing the participant (OR = 2.53, 95% CI 1.41–4.55). There were no significant associations found between geographical remoteness and video applications (examined only for the video counselling group) and connectivity difficulties in the video or telephone sessions. Chapter 6 evaluated the acceptability of real-time video counselling for smoking cessation compared to a) telephone counselling and b) written self-help materials among rural and remote residents. Real-time video counselling for smoking cessation was acceptable and well-received by those living in rural and remote locations. There were significant differences between video counselling and telephone counselling groups on three of 10 acceptability or helpfulness measures. Video counselling participants had significantly lower odds of reporting the number of calls were about right (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.27- 0.93), recommending the support to family and friends (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.04-0.85) and reporting the support helped with motivation to try quitting (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.07-0.76) compared to telephone counselling participants. Video counselling participants had significantly greater odds than written materials participants of rating the support favourably on all seven acceptability and helpfulness items that were compared. Chapter 7 provides a discussion of the main thesis findings, thesis limitations, and implications of findings for researchers, quitlines and smoking cessation service providers.
- Subject
- smoking cessation; nicotine; thesis by publication; videoconferencing; telephone counselling; connectivity; telemedicine; remote consultation; rural; acceptability; tobacco use
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1484460
- Identifier
- uon:51338
- Rights
- Copyright 2021 Judith Byaruhanga
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 321 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |