We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Diffusion of an Evidence-Based Smoking Cessation Intervention Through Facebook: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
- Authors
Cobb, Nathan K.; Jacobs, Megan A.; Wileyto, Paul; Vale, Thomas; Graham, Amanda L.
- Abstract
Objectives. To examine the diffusion of an evidence-based smoking cessation application (“app”) through Facebook social networks and identify specific intervention components that accelerate diffusion. Methods. Between December 2012 and October 2013, we recruited adult US smokers (“seeds”) via Facebook advertising and randomized them to 1 of 12 app variants using a factorial design. App variants targeted components of diffusion: duration of use (t), “contagiousness” (β), and number of contacts (Z). The primary outcome was the reproductive ratio (R), defined as the number of individuals installing the app (“descendants”) divided by the number of a seed participant’s Facebook friends. Results. We randomized 9042 smokers. App utilization metrics demonstrated between-variant differences in expected directions. The highest level of diffusion (R = 0.087) occurred when we combined active contagion strategies with strategies to increase duration of use (incidence rate ratio = 9.99; 95% confidence interval = 5.58, 17.91; P < .001). Involving nonsmokers did not affect diffusion. Conclusions. The maximal R value (0.087) is sufficient to increase the numbers of individuals receiving treatment if applied on a large scale. Online interventions can be designed a priori to spread through social networks.
- Subjects
CONFIDENCE intervals; DIFFUSION of innovations; REGRESSION analysis; RESEARCH funding; STATISTICAL sampling; SMOKING cessation; SOCIAL networks; RANDOMIZED controlled trials; DATA analysis software; DESCRIPTIVE statistics
- Publication
American Journal of Public Health, 2016, Vol 106, Issue 6, p1130
- ISSN
0090-0036
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2105/AJPH.2016.303106