Smoking prevalence is disproportionately high among low income populations. Improving tobacco control in small businesses could significantly impact smoking outcomes among low-income populations for three reasons: l) small worksites employ the majority of working adults; 2) small worksites are more likely to hire low income employees than larger corporations; 3) small worksites are less likely to address tobacco use. In Phase I, we propose to develop an interactive Web-based tobacco control application for use by small business employees and owners participating in a healthcare purchasing alliance. The employee version of the application will provide a tailored smoking cessation intervention; the owner version will provide assistance to small business employers in implementing organizational changes to support smoking cessation. Primary goals of Phase II are to fully integrate the Web-based application into the purchasing alliance range of products and services and to evaluate its impact on outcomes. The advantages of the proposed product are that it will be: (l) fully integrated into the service delivery program of the purchasing alliance, thereby ensuring its recurrent promotion through purchasing alliance and workplace initiatives; (2) demonstrated to be cost-effective through reduced healthcare utilization and absenteeism; and, (3) licensed and distributed to purchasing alliances nationally.
The goal of this Phase I proposal is to develop a consumer-friendly, Internet-based tobacco control application which supports individual and ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR CHANGE. Phase II will complete development of the product and will establish a preliminary marketing plan to healthcare purchasing alliances, managed care organizations, health insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies that will be implemented in Phase III.
