Velicer 2006.

Methods	Setting: community, USA Recruitment: proactive approach to smokers at Veterans Administration Medical Center
Participants	2054 smokers (1031 in relevant arms); 23% female, average age 51 years, 40% pre‐contemplators, 40% contemplators, 20% preparers
Interventions	∙ Stage‐based self‐help manuals; participants sent manual for current stage and for next stage on ∙ As first bullet above plus 6 weeks nicotine patch if in appropriate stage; reassessed for NRT eligibility at 6 months and 10 months ∙ As second bullet plus 1 expert system feedback report (see Prochaska trials) ∙ As third bullet plus regular automated telephone counselling
Outcomes	Abstinence at 30 months; sustained for 6 months Validation: none
Notes	3 vs 2 for tailored adjunct to targeted self‐help In NRT groups, 350 (67%) received NRT at baseline and 448 (86%) received NRT at some point
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Computer‐based random number generator
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Allocation done after completion of survey Randomised participants who did not return consent form were excluded from further analyses
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Self‐reported outcomes from participants not blinded to treatment condition, but intensity did not differ substantially by condition, so differential misreport judged to be unlikely
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	39% lost including 8% refused by 30 months; no significant differences between groups Different treatments of missing data reported not to have altered pattern of results