We then sent surveys to the women (of whom most were wives or romantic partners), asking how they felt about the participant's smokeless tobacco use and intention to quit, and about their intention to engage in a variety of "supportive" behaviors during his quit attempt. We also suggested that they read the page in the quitting guide that suggested some "do's" and "don'ts" for helping the chewer.

In general, the women felt strongly about the men's use of snuff or chew. Many had made the initial call to the study, and most wanted to do whatever they could to help their husband, romantic partner, or son to quit.

We followed up with both the men and the women six weeks later, asking the women what they'd actually done relative to their original intentions, and asking the men what the women had done. We found that men who said their female supporter had engaged in the most "positive" supportive behaviors were most likely to have quit and stayed quit by six-month follow-up. We hope to learn more about effective support for tobacco cessation in future research.