Smoking Cessation
X-Pack
Cigarette companies spend $11.2 billion a year on packaging to make sure smokers enjoy opening each and every pack. That's the trouble. It's not just the nicotine that's addictive, it's the ritual. The X-Pack has been designed to grab the attention of the young adult smoker and help them break the habit and find new rituals to get them through the day. Behavior Works staff and Population Services International collaborated with members of the Harvard Tobacco Control Working Group and Sandstrom Design to develop X-Pack. We developed X-Pack because the lack of promising approaches for adolescent and young adult smoking cessation was a recognized problem.
X-Pack contains information, decision-making tools, motivational content and distracting gadgets to help guide and support young smokers through the quitting process. We designed the product to be compatible with and complementary to, but not dependent upon, the use of other smoking cessation aids, such as nicotine patches or gum and refers users to quitlines and websites that offer support during the quitting process. X-Pack is based on best medical practices in smoking cessation and in-depth research with young adult smokers about their quitting preferences.
A National Institute of Health funded randomized control study to test the acceptability and efficacy of an X-Pack-based smoking cessation intervention. Preliminary results from the 2 month study indicate that those in the X-Pack group were more likely to quit smoking for 30 days or more, quit for a greater number of consecutive days, and were more likely to have made one quit attempt than those in the control group. Participants in the X-Pack group were also more likely to follow through on process measures such as calling up a friend or family member, practicing the 4 D's, and reading over the reasons for quitting smoking.
