Brief Interventions to Create Smoke-Free Home Policies in Low-Income Households

Summary

The burden of tobacco use falls disproportionately on low-income populations, through high rates of primary smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. The remarkable progress in creating smoke-free environments in the U.S. over the past two decades has left smoker's homes as one of the primary sources of exposure to secondhand smoke for both children and nonsmoking adults. Intervention research that identifies effective and practical strategies for reaching the minority of households that still allow smoking in the home has considerable potential to reduce smoke exposure, but suitable channels to reach low-income families are limited. The proposed research will develop, evaluate and disseminate a brief smoke-free homes intervention through the established national infrastructure of 2-1-1 call centers. 2-1-1 is a nationally designated 3-digit telephone exchange, similar to 9-1-1 for emergencies or 4-1-1 for directory assistance, that links callers to community-based health and social services.

The proposed research has four specific aims: 1) Conduct formative research on intervention messages and materials for promoting smoke-free homes in low-income populations, applicable to both smokers and nonsmokers as household change agents; 2) Conduct a randomized controlled trial in the Atlanta 2-1-1 service area to evaluate the efficacy of a brief intervention to create smoke-free homes among 2-1-1 callers; 3) Conduct replication studies in Houston and North Carolina 2-1-1 systems to systematically test the intervention in varied populations and tobacco control climates, and 4) Disseminate the research-tested smoke-free homes intervention through a variety of mechanisms including a national grants program to 2-1-1 systems and through the Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium's linkages to the state and local tobacco control infrastructure in the U.S.

Conditions

• Chronic Diseases

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Educational print materials and a coaching call

Intervention group participants receive three sets of mailed educational materials about making their home smoke-free and one coaching call.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)

  collaborator NIH

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  collaborator OTHER

• The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

  collaborator OTHER

• Washington University School of Medicine

  collaborator OTHER

• Emory University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Michelle Kegler, DrPH · Emory University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2012-06-30

Primary Completion

2013-07-31

Completion

2013-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations