Northwest Smokeless Tobacco Study
National Cancer Institute Grant #1 R01 CA60586
In this four-year study, approximately 1,000 smokeless tobacco users
in five Northwest states will be provided with free quitting materials, to
evaluate the effectiveness of a low-cost cessation program for quitting
the use of chewing tobacco and snuff. Participating states are Oregon,
Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. The study is designed to
assess low-cost methods for smokeless tobacco cessation. The materials
used in this self-help study are the current state of the art, reflecting
years of research and feedback from hundreds of successful quitters.
Interested people are invited to call our toll-free number for more
information. The first step is screening by phone, to ensure eligibility.
After screening, potential participants are sent a questionnaire and
consent form, and once these have been returned, the quitting packet is
mailed. Participants are later asked to complete two questionnaires to
help determine how well the quitting program worked for them. No office
visits or group meetings are required.
For more
information or to enroll in the study, call:
1-800-574-7111
Investigators:
This project is the latest in more than a decade of research into
smokeless tobacco addiction by the investigators, who are behavioral
scientists based at Oregon Research
Institute in Eugene, Oregon. Previous studies by the same researchers
have examined other approaches to smokeless tobacco cessation, including
- self-help quitting with the LifeSign device
- the use of
nicotine patches and gum as aids in quitting
- the role of dentists
and dental hygienists in helping patients quit
- quitting methods
for use with professional baseball players
The investigators
are:
Herbert H.
Severson, Ph.D. Dr. Severson is an internationally recognized expert
in smokeless tobacco use and cessation. He has authored Enough
Snuff, a 60-page quitting guide published by Applied Behavior Science
Press; Smokeless Tobacco: A Deadly Addiction, published by Health
EdCo; and numerous scientific articles in this field. He has contributed
to three Surgeon General's reports on tobacco use and was a co-author of
the 1994 Institute of Medicine report, Growing Up Tobacco Free.
Edward
Lichtenstein, Ph.D. Dr. Lichtenstein has been a leader in the field of
tobacco cessation for more than 30 years and is known for his early work
in smoking cessation, as well as his more recent work in developing
low-cost approaches to assisting people who want to quit smoking or
smokeless use.
Judy A.
Andrews,
Ph.D. Dr. Andrews' area of expertise is in research design,
statistics, and evaluation. She has been involved with tobacco cessation
research for over eight years. She is responsible for analysis of the
data in the questionnaires, which will determine the effectiveness of the
materials overall and with different categories of users.
Related Research and Data:
Comparison of Two
Self-Help SLT Cessation Methods. This recent Oregon Research
Institute study, a pilot for the current project, compared a quitting
manual and video with the LifeSign device for smokeless tobacco cessation.
This study produced quit rates of 18-24% among its 198 participants, with
both methods having similar results.
Other Tobacco
Research at Oregon Research Institute. ORI currently has projects
under way to test the effectiveness of various public health approaches to
tobacco cessation, including use of Planned Parenthood clinics, dental
offices, and radon awareness programs.
Smokeless Tobacco
Use Prevalence, by State. The Centers of Disease Control and
Prevention offer a wide selection of current data on smokeless tobacco use
and health effects. This table indicates use by state of adult males in
the United States, 1992-93.
Media Archives:
Eugene Register-Guard, June 12, 1998
Tacoma
News-Tribune, March 9, 1998
For questions about
the study or this site, contact: Laura Akers
Northwest Smokeless Tobacco Study
Oregon Research Institute
1715 Franklin Blvd.
Eugene, OR 97403
phone: (541) 484-2123
fax: (541) 484-1108
last updated October 1998
