果冻影院 research informs 鈥楽toptober鈥� helping thousands to quit smoking

Research from 果冻影院鈥檚 Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group has helped shape the annual 鈥楽toptober鈥� campaign - which has seen around 350,000 people quit smoking each year since launching in 2013.

12 April 2022

Smoking has long been known to be destructive to health, and more than half of UK smokers want to quit, but simply focusing on the harms caused by smoking in public health campaigns has not always been effective.听听

Research by the 果冻影院 Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group (UTARG) has been critical to the funding, underpinning theory and practical application of the Department of Health/Public Health England鈥檚 highly successful 鈥楽toptober鈥� campaign - a positive mass quitting event with active support around making one specific change: laying off the cigarettes for 28 days in October.听听

Following the science on smoking听听听

果冻影院 Professors Robert West and Jamie Brown and Principal Research Fellow Emma Beard鈥檚听research on the health impact of mass quitting campaigns helped to secure national investment for the first campaign, as well as informing its Autumn timing, which UTARG identified as a fallow period for quitting activity. Relapse data produced by UTARG and other research groups shaped the campaign鈥檚 central feature of a 28-day smoke-free challenge, having shown that smokers who achieved the goal would be at least five times more likely to stop smoking for good.听听

The campaign used ideas from Robert West and Jamie Brown鈥檚 influential book, 鈥楾he Theory of Addiction鈥�, which argues that long-term quitting is more likely if support is provided that targets people鈥檚 whole motivational system rather than just parts of it. Borrowing from this idea, 鈥楽toptober鈥� provided a variety of support, including postal support packs; digital tools; peer support via Facebook; an app; and motivational text messaging.听

A cost-effective campaign听听

A UTARG evaluation using data on quit attempts from 31,566 past-year smokers estimated that 鈥楽toptober鈥� led to more than 350,000 smokers trying to quit in October 2012, the first year of the campaign, than would have occurred otherwise. The cost-effectiveness compared favourably with other UK quit smoking campaigns, with a cost to government of 拢414.26 per discounted life year (a measure of impact on future healthy life and longevity) in the average age group, and 拢557.70 across the general population.听

These findings were critical to the decision to make Stoptober an annual campaign, and informed Public Health England鈥檚 social marketing strategy. Projecting these effects from 2013 to 2020, Stoptober saved an estimated 83,200 discounted life years in England.听听听

Influencing policy around the world听听

Internationally, 鈥楽toptober鈥� has been adopted in France, generating an estimated 380,000 quit attempts, and in the Netherlands where an estimated 50,000 people participated each year. New Zealand ran a similar campaign between 2014 and 2016.听

UTARG evidence on the impact of smoking cessation public campaigns and the arguments for continued spending on them have featured both in House of Commons debate on a new Tobacco Control Strategy and in parliamentary debate on 鈥楽moke-free England 2030鈥�, as well as a government press release to mark the start of Stoptober 2020, which directly cited the 果冻影院 work.听

Research synopsis

Smoking cessation research shapes 鈥楽toptober鈥� campaign, helping thousands to quit听

Research evidence and theory from 果冻影院鈥檚 Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group helped shape the annual 鈥楽toptober鈥� public health campaign, a mass national quitting event for smokers. An extra 350,000 people were estimated to have quit each year since the annual event鈥檚 launch in 2013, and it has inspired similar campaigns around the world.听

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