Early Evidence of Success for a National Asian Smokers’ Quitline

Almost 70% of all smokers say they want to quit. Many find help through telephone quitlines, which are shown to increase quit rates and have broad reach with diverse populations.

To address a gap in services to the Asian-American population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012 funded the Asian Smokers’ Quitline (ASQ); expanding a successful California program to all states. The ASQ provided counseling by trained native speakers in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

A 2-year study of calls to the ASQ shows early evidence of success: there were more than 5,400 callers from 48 states and the District of Columbia seeking help to quit smoking. About 85% of tobacco users who called enrolled in counseling, completing an average of 4 sessions. This compares favorably with other state-based quitlines which report an average of 2.4 to 2.9 counseling sessions per caller. The study’s results are consistent with previous findings that Asian-language smokers are willing to use services from a culturally-tailored, in-language quitline and participate in the counseling program once enrolled.

For those wanting help quitting smoking, the ASQ numbers are, for Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), 1-800-838-8917; for Vietnamese, 1-800-778-8440; and for Korean, 1-800-556-5564. Smokers can receive free resources and support to help them quit in English and Spanish by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).

To read the study mentioned in this post, visit PCD’s homepage.