QuitCoach

Interactive, personalised, computer-generated smoking cessation advice

An enduring interest of the research group is in facilitating the development and evaluation of mass-disseminable smoking cessation interventions and working to ensure they are maximally useful to all types of smokers. 

The QuitCoach is a second-generation computer-tailored expert system designed to mimic a counsellor by providing personalised advice to smokers going through the process of quitting.  The program was developed in Australia to overcome identified limitations with existing tailoring programs.

After participants complete a brief on-line smoking assessment, the QuitCoach then selects from a library of advice paragraphs based on their responses, and compiles them into a document that can either be read off-screen or printed for later reference.  It was developed in the late 1990s and shown to be effective in a randomised controlled trial.  Since then it has been migrated to the internet.

QuitCoach is designed to be used on multiple occasions, with the advice provided on each assessment taking into account any change in perspective from the previous assessment. While registration is optional, with users free to browse the site and/or complete an assessment without registering users are encouraged to register, so that the program can track subsequent use.  Registered users are sent a reminder e-mail to log in on a follow-up date scheduled by the program. 

The scheduling of follow-up is based on perspective on change, and designed to provide for more frequent assessments clustered around a quit attempt.  Therefore, the recommended frequency of assessments for each individual may vary considerably, according to their pattern of perspective change.  This is an important advance on other leading computer-tailored cessation programs which have given insufficient attention to optimal timing of presentation of information, something shown to be important in cessation counselling.

A team from VCTC led by Professor Ron Borland have been responsible for the design, the testing and now ongoing development of the QuitCoach.  It is available at www.quitcoach.org.au a computer-based automated expert system for helping smokers to quit and stay quit. 

Funding

We currently have a NHMRC project grant to explore the utility of adding messaging components to make interaction with the QuitCoach to reach out beyond sessions in front of a computer using modern telephony and other interactive devices.  This work is a collaborative effort between VCTC, the smoker services group within Quit Victoria, and the Department of Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. 

The research team

Professor Ron Borland, James Balmford, Nicole Bishop (VCTC), Jean Anselmi (Quit), Connor Graham and Associate Professor Steve Howard, both Department of Information Systems, University of Melbourne. It is funded from 2006 - 2009 by NHMRC Research Grant #396405. 

We are currently revising, the QuitCoach on a new platform based on a generic Expert System platform developed for us by a Melbourne-based software company called Quest Metrics.  The assessment tool uses their proprietary QEDML questionnaire design and deployment platform.  This replaced the existing QuitCoach platform in June 2007, but is still undergoing refinement.

We are also collaborating with a team of researchers led by Dr David Buller, Klein Buendel, Denver, Colorado, USA.  This project is using the QuitCoach as one of three arms in randomised trial of strategies to facilitate quitting smoking in young adults.  We have adapted the QuitCoach to provide more detailed advice for smokers who are still in the process of becoming addicted to meet the needs of this study.

Key Publication

Borland R, Balmford J & Hunt D. The effectiveness of personally tailored computer-generated advice letters for smoking cessation. Addiction.  2004; 99: 369-377.