Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline Services Provided - FY2009

In August 2003, the Board of Directors launched the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline (1-800-QUIT-NOW), a professional, telephone-based tobacco cessation counseling service provided at no charge to Oklahomans who want to quit using tobacco. By FY2009, the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline has served more than 100,000 Oklahomans.

Oklahomans Served FY2009

• 37,855 Oklahomans called the Helpline for services and information from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. This included 35,058 tobacco users who wanted to quit. In addition, 153 health care providers, 488 family or friends of tobacco users, and 2,156 members of the general public received information to assist their patients and loved ones.
• Registrants called from all 77 of Oklahoma’s counties and from 33 of 38 federally-recognized Native American tribes in Oklahoma.
• 7,784 tobacco users who registered for Helpline services enrolled in the single-call counseling program. 26,033 tobacco users who registered enrolled in the multiple-call counseling program. 
• 15,687 tobacco users received the multiple call intervention plus 8 weeks of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) while 8,130 tobacco users received the multiple call intervention plus 2 weeks of NRT. 
• Among those served, 79.0% were white; 6.5% were African American; 10.4% were American Indian; and 3.3% were Hispanic.
• Nearly two-thirds of all callers to the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline are female.
• 298 tobacco users were pregnant. An additional 287 women were planning pregnancy and 86 were breast-feeding mothers.
• 54% of registrants had incomes less than $20,000.
• 61% of registrants had a high school education or less.

Program Results

• 92% of Helpline participants were satisfied with Helpline services and 94% would recommend the Helpline to others.
• A year after contacting the Helpline, 31% of those in the multiple-call program quit tobacco use. By comparison, the ‘cold turkey’ quit rate is only 5%.
• Helpline participants receiving both the multiple-call program and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) had the highest quit-rates at the seven-month follow-up, 30% for 2 week NRT and 31% for 8 week NRT.

For more information, contact Sjonna Paulson, Director of Communications or Tracey Strader, Executive Director, Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, (405) 525-8738, toll-free (866) 530-TSET, www.tset.ok.gov.

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