Boosting Smoking Cessation Intervention Utilization in Chinese Health Care Providers: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the "WeChat WeQuit" Medical Education Program.

Introduction: In China, standard smoking cessation practices are rarely used by health care service providers (HSPs). WeChat, a popular social media app, has been widely used in China.

Aims and methods: In this single-blind, randomized trial, undertaken in China with 8-week interventions and follow-up to 34 weeks, 1887 HSPs were randomly selected to the intervention (n = 942) or control group (n = 945) from October 2020 to October 2021. The intervention group received regular smoking cessation training program messages from the professional team for 8 weeks and followed for 34 weeks. The control group received thanks messages for 8 weeks, and follow-up to 34 weeks. Both groups received a hard copy of the manual after randomization. The primary outcome measure was the utilization rate of behavioral and pharmacotherapy interventions for smoking patients from 9 to 34 weeks. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (number NCT03556774).

Results: HSPs in the intervention group demonstrated a better overall utilization rate of smoking cessation at 20-week follow-up compared to the control group (35.54% vs. 31.41%, p = .036). Additionally, both groups showed a significant increase in the adoption of various components of the 5A's model-including "Assess," "Assist: set a quit date," "Assist: recommend cessation program," "Assist: provide information," "Assist: recommend medication," and "Arrange"-at the 9-week follow-up relative to baseline. Notably, at the 20-week follow-up, the intervention group reported significantly enhanced utilization rates for all these components, except "Assist: set a quit date."

Conclusions: The "WeChat WeQuit" training program effectively enhanced smoking cessation intervention adoption among Chinese HSPs.

Implications: "WeChat WeQuit" training program was effective in increasing the provision of effective tobacco cessation interventions by Chinese-speaking HSPs to patients with cigarette smoking, which could provide valuable insights into bridging the gap between need and services for smoking cessation in China.