Journal of health communication
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Research has shown that fax referral services play an important role in linking people who are ready to quit tobacco use with effective cessation support provided through telephone-based quitlines. While many states have implemented fax referral services to assist health care providers in connecting their patients to quitlines, few published studies delineate optimum ways to promote this service to providers, particularly the role of direct mail educational campaigns. This is one of the first studies to evaluate the effectiveness of a small-scale educational and promotional campaign designed to increase health care providers' awareness and utilization of a state tobacco cessation quitline fax referral service. ⋯ The pilot promotional campaign increased awareness of the fax referral service more than service utilization. While increased utilization of the service by health care providers appears promising, additional research is needed on how to maximize educational and promotional campaigns that influence clinician fax referral behaviors. The results of this study can help guide the development of future fax referral promotional campaigns to increase clinician access to and utilization of state quitlines.