A number of relatively comprehensive cyber interventions
have been developed with the specific purpose of
promoting smoking cessation among adolescents. For example,
the Internet-based Stomp Out Smokes program included
both interactive and information services (Patton
et al., 2006). The interactive services provided opportunities
for self-expression (e.g., private journaling service,
art gallery where users could post their work), quizzes,
a quit plan and quit notes, and a private electronic mail
service, which allowed participants to ask questions of
an expert and receive confidential responses within 24 hr,
and a discussion support group consisting of an electronic
mail service, which posted messages and responses to and
from the study participants. The information services included
accurate, up-to-date information on smoking and
quitting and other topics relevant to the adolescent. When
compared with a series of private office-based brief counseling
interventions with a trained cessation counselor,
the Stomp Out Smokes (SOS) program was found to be
less effective in producing smoking abstinence rates; however,
among those participants who continued to smoke,
the SOS intervention was found to reduce the number
of days smoked more than a standard clinical program
(Patton et al., 2006).