Rural adults are more likely to smoke than their urban counterparts. Enhancing digital literacy and improving access to the internet and digital devices may make it easier for rural smokers to quit. These are the findings of a randomized, controlled pilot clinical trial Mayo Clinic researchers published in Communications Medicine.
Digital tools offer a convenient way for rural residents to access support to quit smoking. However, limited digital literacy and technology access can be obstacles. The study tested a program to equip rural residents to take full advantage of these tools.
"Interventions in previous studies had a sole focus, targeting one of three things: device access, internet access or digital literacy," says Christi Patten, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic behavioral health researcher and a senior author of the study.
"We were curious if bundling those resources would be more effective." The clinical trial included 90 adults living in rural areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa and was co-designed with the collaboration of a rural health community advisory board . Prior to the trial, participants smoked an average of 16–17 cigarettes per day and 83% indicated a high readiness to quit.
Each person was enrolled in an online smoking cessation program and randomly assigned to one of three study groups: The researchers evaluated participant engagement in the program to gauge the effectiveness of the intervention. They also closely monitored smoking-related outcomes to evaluat.