This application proposes development of an interactive multimedia program called, """"""""On the Air: A Smoking Education Program for Alcoholics,"""""""" designed to reduce smoking of clients in alcohol treatment. The program will be offered through inpatient, residential and outpatient treatment programs to help those struggling with alcohol addiction to understand, reduce and stop smoking. The program utilizes multimedia technology to tailor intervention material to clients' stage of change with respect to smoking. Based on the metaphor of a television network, users are able to access their own personal """"""""channel"""""""" broadcasting a selection of """"""""shows,"""""""" each of which represents an entertaining, educational oriented intervention tailored to the user's stage-of-change, concerns about smoking and smoking cessation, and other key variables. Phase I involved the gathering of feedback from interviews, focus groups with professionals, interviews with experts, and acceptance and satisfaction testing to develop the """"""""On the Air"""""""" prototype. Phase II will involve the completion of the """"""""On the Air"""""""" CD-ROM, acceptance and satisfaction testing, and implementation of a comprehensive field test of the program. If """"""""On the Air"""""""" were shown to demonstrably increase clients' motivation to actively quit smoking, the national commercial potential would be significant.
The proposed program will provide a targeted, computer-administered intervention to facilitate smoking cessation for alcoholic clients. Despite extremely high proportions of alcoholics who smoke (as much as 90%), and the growing evidence of addictive and even synergistic health consequences of abusing both alcohol and tobacco, few alcohol treatment programs directly address client smoking. Limited financial and staff resources and a general lack of reimbursement for smoking interventions are some of the barriers to integrating smoking cessation efforts into ongoing treatment programs. If a computerized, affordable smoking cessation program can be shown, in field trials, to have demonstrable efficacy, the commercial potential can be extraordinary.
