NCI awards Fred Hutch $3.2 million for smoking cessation research

Dr. Jonathan Bricker, a clinical psychologist in the Public Health Sciences Division, recently received a five-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to test two Web-based smoking cessation tools aimed at increasing quit rates.

Bricker and colleagues will test the effectiveness of an emerging counseling approach called Acceptance & Commitment Therapy. Bricker’s study will compare ACT with another online cessation website. He will also research the method’s cost-effectiveness, as well as how commitment to quitting, nicotine dependence and gender affect cessation efforts.

Bricker, who is affiliated with the University of Washington’s Department of Psychology, said smoking cessation intervention websites are now reaching millions of adults daily, but their effectiveness is low, with average quit rates of 7 percent to 10 percent.

"Now is the time to test a new intervention model with potential to boost quit rates of cessation websites," he said.

Bricker credited his promising pilot study, WebQuit, with providing key preliminary data to support the current grant.