Utilization of a telephone interactive voice-response tobacco cessation support service in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Telephone smoking cessation counselling is a very cost-effective means of reaching dependent smokers in a population. We investigated the frequency of contacts and the types of topics that people accessed after a national telephone helpline was set up in the Islamic Republic of Iran at the beginning of 2011. From a total of 23 979 calls received over a 24-month period, 26.5% of callers hung up without selecting any menus. The most frequently accessed menu was addresses of smoking cessation support services (23.9%), followed by methods of smoking cessation (14.0%), self-help materials for quitting smoking (11.8%) and nicotine dependence assessment (10.4%). The average number of contacts decreased dramatically after the first month of the service but there was a significant increase in the 2 months preceding the feast of Ramadan. Religious messages provide a good opportunity to engage individuals in smoking cessation and may be useful in the planning of media campaigns.