"How does facebook help you to quit smoking?": An online experience of self-help group in motivating smokers to quit.

While cigarette use has been addressed as a global health problem, most smokers still find difficulties and barriers in accessing health facilities or finding a suitable method to quitting the habit. This paper will discuss the study exploring a self-help group on an online-based platform, namely Facebook, in Indonesia. This study adopted quasi-experimental, with pre and post-test using the control group as the previous ethical clearance. The respondents consisting of thirty-two smokers were recruited on non-probability sampling with the purposive sampling method. The data were collected by using a valid (r=0,666) and reliable (r=0,846) Richmond Test motivation questionnaire. Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests were used to analyse them further. The study revealed low participation on the online platform with discussion based on a self-help group. There was no significant motivation improvement among the experimental group after the intervention, as well as no significant difference in motivation improvement between the control and the experimental group upon pursuing the program (p>0,05, t=0,058). In terms of low involvement, an online platform was less effective in improving quit-smoking motivation among smokers. Further research is needed to develop more interactive and longer interventions to facilitate cost-effective smoking cessation through social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]