The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: According to the I-CHANGE model, action plans contribute to the transition from intention to behavioral change. Action plans are specific plans a person makes to obtain a certain goal, in this case non-smoking. The objective of this longitudinal study is to identify effective action plans of Dutch adolescents helping them to quit smoking or refuse offered cigarettes.

Methods: About 5,000 Dutch adolescents between 14 and 18 years old will engage in the smoking prevention and cessation intervention "Smoke Alert". So far, baseline and six-month follow-up data are available for 372 adolescents. Action plans were measured at baseline using a 5-point scale on which respondents had to state whether they agree to make the action plan described. Smokers and non-smokers at follow-up were compared with regard to their action plans at baseline using multivariate analysis.

Results: Smokers: the most common action plan for smokers was to inform friends about their quit attempt (61.7%) followed by removing all smoking materials in the direct environment (59.3%). The action plan that was most effective in helping adolescents quit was planning a quit date (F = 4.86, p=.031). Non-smokers: the most common action plan for non-smokers was to simply refuse the offered cigarette (88%), followed by explaining why they don't want to smoke (74.1%). Effective strategies for not taking a offered cigarette were: simply refuse (F= 35.03, p=.000) and explaining why (F= 7.78, p=0.06). Additional results will be discussed during the conference, as well as other determinants of smoking cessation and uptake derived from the Smoke Alert study.