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The research combined the results of:
- 71,806 smokers from
- 633 different studies into
- 15 categories of methods.
This was the largest, most complete database of smoking studies ever assembled.
Citation
The full name of the study is "A Meta-Analytic Comparison of the Effectiveness of Smoking Cessation Methods."
The study was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 77, No 4, PP 554-561.
Reception from Mayo Clinic Proceedings
James Stewart, MD, wrote about this research in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
In a larger review of literature, Dr. Stewart singled this research out saying, "hypnosis was the most successful method."
Additionally, Dr. Stewart cited specific hypnosis studies that achieved 90% success rates at 3 months and 3 years of follow up.
New Scientist
The News Scientist covered the publication of the research saying, "Hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking, according to the largest ever comparison of ways of breaking the habit. Will power, it turns out, counts for very little."
Study Authors and Methods
The study was written by two university research professors
- Frank L. Schmidt
- Chockalingam Viswesvaran (Everyone calls him "Vish")
These two pioneering researchers devised a way to combine the results of hundreds of related individual studies into one massive research project.
Doing this created an apples-to-apples comparison of every widely used method to quit smoking based only on effectiveness.
Frank and Vish had no stake in the outcome. These men are objective and independent researchers who were working on the faculty at the University of Iowa.
Frank remains on the faculty at U of Iowa, where he's been since 1985.
Incidentally, Frank quit smoking years before doing the research.
Vish moved south to Florida International University where he is now the Director of Graduate Programs in Psychology.
They wanted to show the power of their statistical method of combining multiple studies.
The bottom line is that combining many related studies generates more profound conclusions than any single study could.
Frank and Vish had high quality standards for every single study they included, because their work had to withstand the probing analysis, questioning, and criticism that academics routinely apply to each other's research.
More importantly, their reputations and their careers ride on the accuracy of their research. So they had to do this right and only include only quality studies.
Criteria
To be included, each study had to match all the following criteria:
Quitting Smoking
No studies involving reduction or temporary interruptions were included-only quitting smoking outright.
Cigarette Smoking Only
No studies included involved:
- Cigars
- Pipes
- Chewing tobacco
- Any other smoking material
A Real Study
No single-smoker case studies were used. The studies included had to have at least 6 smokers to be accepted so the results were standardized.
Significant Follow Up
To be included, a study had to have at least 3 months of follow up. Most had 6 months to a full year, or more.
Here are major follow up points:
- 3 month assessment in 93 studies
- 6 month assessment in 214 studies
- 12 month assessment in 226 studies
- 614 of the 633 studies assessed effectiveness within 12 months
Followup analysis showed that the length of the follow up period did not affect the success rate. In other words, studies with 6 month follow up had the same success rates as studies with over a year of follow up, for the same methods.
Some studies even tested smokers' blood to find traces of cigarettes, their carboxyhemoglobin levels.
Real People
All of the 71,806 smokers in the 633 studies were adults. They were real smokers-real people facing the same challenges you face to quit smoking.
Geographic Location
Just for the record, most of the studies were from the US and Canada. However a few of the studies were from:
- England
- Sweden
- France
- Scandinavia
Control Group
Control groups were given no method to help them quit.
These poor smokers were told they were going to be in a quit smoking study but then not contacted again until the follow up, when they were asked if they quit smoking. These are the smokers who quit on their own without any help or formal method whatsoever.
Control groups included 3,295 smokers in 41 studies across all the methods.
Control groups show that ultimately 6% of smokers quit on their own with no help, guidance, or intervention at all.
The total quit rates for each method have been reduced by 6% because the other methods should not get credit for people who quit without any help.
The graph shows how much each method beat the control group.
And for the other 94% of smokers? We have this research to show the pros and cons of each method and its effectiveness.
Bottom Line
All this proves that hypnosis is the scientifically proven best choice to quit smoking.
More information on what works, what doesn't, and why
Smoking quit tips has the big picture take away from the research
Our stop smoking program has the scientifically proven best choice to quit smoking
The method of quit smoking study has the study background including:
- Citations and links
- Study authors and methods
- Study's reception in the research community
- Criteria for including the 633 separate studies, and more
Nice reasons to stop smoking has the really good news about quitting smoking
Side effects of quit smoking methods lists the shocking side effects by method, straight from the FDA
Ways to quit smoking has the full list of links to 15 methods
Important patch research explains the Journal of the American Medical Association article that concluded the patch and NRT was "No longer effective"
The IRS and quitting smoking shows that the IRS does not like weak methods like drugs and NRT at all
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