Will Asian-language Smokers Use a Tobacco Quitline?
UC San Diego Researchers Analyze 15 Years of Data on an Asian Quitline Telephone counseling programs for smoking cessation, popularly known as “quitlines,” are an increasingly common way for smokers to quit. Every state in the U.S. now has one. However, most of them provide counseling services in English and Spanish only. The only quitline so far to offer counseling in multiple Asian languages is the California Smokers’ Helpline. Since 1993, the Helpline has been counseling smokers in Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects), Korean and Vietnamese, in addition to English and Spanish. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, led by Shu-Hong Zhu, PhD, professor of family and preventive medicine, examined more than 15 years of data from the California Smokers’ Helpline and compared the use of Asian-language services by Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese callers to the use of English-language services by Caucasian callers. Their findings will appear in t
