A 28-Day Challenge to Help Quit Smoking Using Telephone Follow-Ups Combined With the WeChat App: The Impact of the Humanistic Approach on Smoking Cessation.
Sisi Zhang, Qian Ding, Jun Shen and 2 others
PMID 34473451WHAT IT FOUND
Smokers in a WeChat group with phone check-ins reported a 65.7% quit rate.
Even those who failed to quit cut their daily cigarettes significantly. No control group or biochemical testing was used.
Key findings
0165.7% of participants reported successful quitting based on self-report, with no control group for comparison.
02Participants who did not quit smoking significantly reduced their daily cigarette consumption from baseline.
03The intervention combined telephone follow-ups and WeChat group support, with no medical treatment or pharmacotherapy provided.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
There was no control group, so it is impossible to know if the quit rate was better than what would happen without the intervention. Abstinence was self-reported and not confirmed by biochemical tests (e.g., cotinine), which typically leads to overestimation of quit rates. The sample size was small and the study was conducted in a specific region with a specific cultural context. The questionnaires were designed by the authors and had not been validated for reliability or validity.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was initiated by their department in China.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the 65.7% quit rate as evidence that this specific WeChat and telephone protocol is effective. Without a control group and biochemical verification, this rate could reflect natural quitting, placebo effects, or social desirability bias in self-reporting.