URMC Enrolling Community College Students for Web-Assisted Tobacco Intervention Study

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) know that reducing tobacco use on college campuses could prevent a new group of lifetime smokers. And with approximately 25 percent of college students, aged 18-22 years old, classifying themselves as full-time smokers[1], college could be a turning point in choosing whether or not students will become life-time tobacco users.   

The URMC is recruiting 1,500 smokers attending community colleges throughout New York State to participate in a new research study funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The “Web-Assisted Tobacco Intervention with Community Colleges” study will investigate novel Web-based delivery of tobacco interventions to reduce the number of community college students who smoke.   

“While young adults, and specifically community college students, are an understudied population, they also have a higher rate of smoking than the general adult population,” said Scott McIntosh, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, and director of the Greater Rochester Area Tobacco Cessation Center. “We want to provide tobacco cessation opportunities to community college students in a way that they consume media every day—on-demand, with the hope of effecting true and life-long abstinence from smoking.” 

Students enrolled in the study will need to complete questionnaires at one, six and 12 months, and will receive a total of $45 for their participation, whether they quit smoking or not. To be eligible to sign up for the study, students must be matriculated part time or full time at a participating community college, and smoke at least five cigarettes per day on at least five days per week. Full qualifications can be found here. Participating New York State community colleges include:

• Adirondack Community College
• Borough of Manhattan Community College
• Bronx Community College   
• Cayuga Community College  
• Erie Community College
• Finger Lakes Community College
• Genesee Community College
• Herkimer Community College       
• Hudson Valley Community College
• Jamestown Community College
• Jefferson Community College       
• Kingsborough Community College
• Mohawk Valley Community College     
• Monroe Community College
• Nassau County Community College        
• Niagara County Community College    
• North Country Community College      
• Orange County Community College   
• Suffolk County Community College
• Tompkins Cortland Community College
• Ulster County Community College
• Westchester Community College

For more information about the study, click here. For smokers of all ages that are interested in quitting, or finding out about local and state resources, call 866-NY-QUITS (866-697-8487), or go online at www.nysmokefree.com.

[1] 2012 Surgeon General’s Report on Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults