Telephone Counseling and the Distribution of Nicotine Patches to Smokers

Summary

The primary purpose of this study is to determine the effects of distributing free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to tobacco quitline callers directly. Specifically, this study aims to:

1. Test if sending active nicotine patches directly will lead to a higher quit rate, compared to a condition where the quitline assists the smokers to obtain patches by other means (e.g. via their health plans).
2. Test if sending placebo patches directly will also lead to a higher quit rate.
3. Test if quitline counseling increases the quit rate when the smokers already receive the nicotine patches.

Conditions

• Smoking Cessation

Interventions

DRUG

Nicotine Patch

Subjects are randomized into 1 of 3 conditions: active, placebo or usual care. Usual care subjects are not mailed patches; however, we facilitate their use by providing a certificate that can be used by the State Medicaid program and some insurance companies to obtain free patches. For those mailed patches directly, we will mail 8 weeks of patches. Dosage depends on the number of cigarettes per day (cpd). Light smokers (6-10 cpd) will receive 6 weeks of 14 mg and 2 weeks of 7 mg patches. Heavy smokers (11+ cpd) will receive 4 weeks of 21 mg, 2 weeks of 14 mg and 2 weeks of 7 mg patches. Placebo patches will have no nicotine, but will be packaged to mimic the active patches.

BEHAVIORAL

Telephone Counseling

Subjects call the Helpline and are screened for services. Eligible clients who give consent will be randomly assigned to a group. Subjects will be randomized into one of 2 behavioral conditions: telephone counseling or self-help materials. Telephone counseling includes a comprehensive pre-quit session (to include motivation, planning, and setting of a quit date and discussion of nicotine patch use) plus up to 5 proactive follow-up calls. Telephone counseling has several distinguishing features, namely proactive follow up counseling calls, a manualized protocol, and relapse-sensitive scheduling.

DRUG

Placebo

Placebo nicotine patch

OTHER

Self-Help Materials

Subjects call the Helpline and are screened for services. Eligible clients who give consent will be randomly assigned to a group. Subjects will be randomized into one of 2 behavioral conditions: telephone counseling or self-help materials. Reading materials and written consent will be mailed to all study subjects the next business day.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• California Department of Health Services

  collaborator OTHER

• University of California, San Diego

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Shu-Hong Zhu, Ph.D. · University of California, San Diego

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

QUADRUPLE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2009-02-28

Primary Completion

2010-10-31

Completion

2011-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations