HWN Suggests

​Stoptober Guide - Everything You Need to Know

As a recent study highlights, smokers are five times more likely to quit if they don’t touch a cigarette for 28 days straight. Stoptober is the collective challenge over 28 days to achieve this goal and make it permanent by using the tools and advice created by organisations like PHE and the NHS. Other health organisations such as Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, the British Lung Foundation and ASH all have the desire and funding in place to achieve the government’s goal of stopping smoking in British society completely by 2030.

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Articles of Interest

Campaign evaluation

Stoptober continues to effectively drive smokers to make a quit attempt. In 2020, the campaign generated quit attempts among 12.3% of all smokers and recent ex-smokers, with 4% reporting that they were still not smoking at 4 weeks. The campaign also generated 7% of respondents claiming that they made another positive claimed action as a result of the campaign, for example, downloaded the Stoptober app, or spoke to a pharmacist about quitting. This is all encouraging given that the number of smokers in the population is decreasing and also because of the busy media context the campaign operated within.

How effective and cost-effective was the national mass media smoking cessation campaign ‘Stoptober’?

In conclusion, the national ‘Stoptober’ mass media smoking cessation campaign featuring digital support appears to have provided excellent value for money as a life-saving public health intervention. Designing a national public health campaign with a clear behavioural target (making a serious quit attempt) using key psychological principles can yield a substantial return in terms of behaviour change and public health impact.

Stoptober launches to give smokers the confidence to quit

Stoptober offers a range of free quitting tools including the NHS Quit Smoking app, Facebook online communities, daily emails and SMS, an online Personal Quit Plan, as well as advice on stop smoking aids, vaping to quit smoking and free expert support from local stop smoking services.

Stoptober: Everything you need to know about the annual 28-day challenge to stop smoking

‘The sooner you quit, the sooner you'll notice changes to your body and health,’ the NHS says.

The Stoptober Challenge: Quit Smoking in 28 Days

Quitting smoking is difficult, and for the average daily smoker, it can take 30 or more quit attempts before they successfully stop smoking.[

What is Stoptober? & Why it’s Time to Quit

Kicking the smoking habit can be challenging, and it's not uncommon for the average daily smoker to make 30 or more attempts before achieving success. While this may seem daunting, don't be discouraged; just because quitting smoking is tough doesn't mean it's impossible.

“Like you are fooling yourself”: how the “Stoptober” temporary abstinence campaign supports Dutch smokers attempting to quit

Stoptober supports smokers in their attempts to quit and generally according to the campaign’s theoretical principles. Added to available evidence, this finding supports the continuation and wider implementation of Stoptober, while connecting the campaign to social networks and regular smoking-cessation services to help improve long-term abstinence rates.