Interest in technology-based and traditional smoking cessation programs among adult smokers in Ankara, Turkey

148 adult smokers took part in a community-based survey in Ankara, Turkey. Two in five (43%) respondents reported typically smoking their first cigarette within 30 minutes of waking. Many participants expressed a desire to quit smoking: 27% reported seriously thinking about quitting in the next 30 days; 53% reported at least one quit attempt in the past year. Two in five smokers wanting to quit reported they were somewhat or extremely like to try a smoking cessation program if it were accessible via text messaging (45%) or online (43%).Opportunities for low-cost, high-reach, technology-based smoking cessation programs are under-utilized. Findings support the development and testing of these types of interventions for adult smokers in Turkey.Although smoking rates have decreased in high-income countries, rates in low- and middle-income countries seem to be resistant to declines [1]. This is especially true in Turkey, a middle income country [2] with a national population of almost 73 million people [3]. Turkey is 6th in the world in smoking consumption [4] and is one of the top ten producers of tobacco [5]. An estimated 48% of Turkish men and 15% of Turkish women 15 years of age and older smoke cigarettes [5]. Indeed, a current smoker is found in seven out of 10 households [6]. Factors contributing to smoking prevalence are complex [7]. Because of the long lag time between onset of smoking and onset of disease however, cessation among current adult smokers is the path to reducing mortality within the next 25 years [8].Implementation of effective smoking cessation programs in developing countries with high smoking prevalence rates such as Turkey is a major public health priority [5,9-11]. Even so, constrained public health resources make this difficult and literature documenting successful smoking interventions in Turkey is sparse. Demir and colleagues [12] report results of a pilot smoking cessation study conducted in an outpatient clinic where 40% of 118 patients us