Evaluating the Effects of a Brief Tobacco Intervention in the U.S. Air Force.

INTRODUCTION: Military personnel have among the highest rates of tobacco use in the US. Unfortunately, there are few interventions aimed at reducing tobacco use among this vulnerable population. The current study addresses this need by evaluating the short-term effectiveness of a Brief Tobacco Intervention (BTI), a 40-minute group-based intervention designed to reduce contemporary patterns of tobacco use among a sample of US military enlistees during an 11-week period of involuntary tobacco abstinence. METHODS: Participants were 2,999 US Air Force Technical Trainees at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas from April 2017 through January 2018. Participants were cluster randomized to three conditions: (1) BTI + Airman's Guide to Remaining Tobacco Free (AG), (2) AG intervention, or (3) standard smoking cessation intervention. The primary analysis was a comparison of the interventions' efficacies in preventing tobacco use during Technical Training, conducted using a generalized estimating equations logistic regression model controlling for covariates. Multiple imputation was used to account for loss to follow-up. RESULTS: There was not a significant difference by condition in the use of tobacco products at follow-up (p=0.454). The BTI + AG condition did produce short-term changes in perceived harm, intentions to use tobacco, knowledge about tobacco products, and normative beliefs. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that while the intervention was effective in the short-term, it was not potent enough over a 12-week period to prevent Airmen from initiating tobacco use. Future studies should examine whether adding a booster session or media campaign enhances the effectiveness of the intervention.