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So Crush LGBT Smoking Cessation Program in Las Vegas
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Part of a Special Series Developed in Partnership With MobileActive.org
Cigarette smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable disease in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly one-quarter of all Nevada residents smoke. According to MobileActive.org, 70-percent of gays and lesbians in Las Vegas smoke
To address and lower the city's high smoking rates, Educational Message Services partnered with the Southern Nevada Health District to launch a Short Messaging Service (SMS) smoking cessation program in Las Vegas, Nevada.
After LGBT mobile users text the “TEXTME” short code, “So Crush” program administrators ask several “logic questions” to define the types and duration of messages. With this information, the program administrators determine whether the user is a smoker, friend of smokers or interested in smoke-free events. Program administrators individually respond to each message received.
According to MobileActive.org, the “So Crush” SMS program:
- Links individuals to smoking cessation programs.
- Encourages users to vote for the best looking “So Crush” male model from the website and favorite DJs, night clubs and smoke-free social events.
In addition to the SMS program, the Crush campaign uses social marketing techniques by employing models (“smoke-free cuties”) to promote smoke-free events and bars in the Las Vegas area. The definition of “crush” according to the website is to be fresh, young and smoke-free.
To date (as of October 2009), the program has 1,854 users. Users are defined as LGBT smokers interested in quitting and/or nonsmokers with smoking partner who would like help with helping partner quit.
So Crush surveyed 745 of their users through their website. Their findings conclude that the majority of users are:
- 21 - 24 years old (n = 300)
- Male (n = 487)\
- Gay or Lesbian (n = 433) They also concluded: * On average, the majority of users use text messaging “pretty much every hour” (n = 554)
- When asked, “If you could get reminders about special smoke-free events and parties sent to your email or cell phone, which do you prefer? The majority would like to be contacted by cell phone (n = 288)
- MobileActive.org Article: SMS smoking cessation program to Launch in LGBT Las Vegas community, December 11, 2007, http://mobileactive.org/sms-smoking-cessation-program-launch-lgbt-las-vegas-community.
- MobileActive.org Article: SMS Tobacco Support for LGBTs Launches in November, October 31, 2007, http://mobileactive.org/sms-tobacco-support-lgbt.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sustaining State Programs for Tobacco Control Data Highlights, 2006, http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/state_data/data_highlights/2006/pdfs/dataHighlights06rev.pdf
Learn More: Read additional case studies featured on Living the Path.