Evaluation of a Brief Tobacco Intervention in the US Military

Summary

While the military has taken steps to reduce tobacco use over the past two decades, over a quarter of new military recruits report regular tobacco use prior to enlistment. This rate is higher than the national prevalence of 21.3% of US adults. Brief health prevention programs may be particularly effective for Airmen in Technical Training, given that all Airmen have been tobacco free for 11 ½ weeks and nearly 2/3rds are confident that they won't return to tobacco. We have developed and validated a Brief Tobacco Intervention (BTI) that is currently being implemented as part of Technical Training. We found that a motivational interviewing based, 40 minute BTI was efficacious in increasing perceived harm and decreasing intentions to use tobacco in a sample of 1055 Air Force trainees. Although we obtained significant positive changes in latent cognitive constructs for tobacco behavior that are highly predictive of future tobacco use in youth and young adults, the Little et al study did not obtain measures of actual tobacco resumption following the ban on tobacco in Air Force training. Given that 69.8% of all tobacco resumption/initiation occurs in Technical Training, a study that evaluates the short-term impact of our BTI on actual tobacco use is necessary prior to conducting the full scale R01 that would evaluate the long term efficacy of the BTI intervention. Thus, we propose the following Specific Aims: (1) To recruit approximately 2,000 Air Force trainees at the beginning of Technical Training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Air Force in San Antonio, Texas during the 11 ½ week involuntary cessation ban; (2) To randomize participants to either (a) receive our cigarette smoking military tailored pamphlet (HL095758), The Airmen's Guide to Remaining Tobacco Free (Airmen's Guide; which has been disseminated and is now the standard of care in the Air Force) or (b) the Airmen's Guide + Brief Tobacco Intervention (BTI); (3) To determine the short-term (3 month, end of Technical Training) efficacy of the intervention on tobacco abstinence. Our primary outcome is tobacco abstinence at the end of Technical Training to determine an estimated effect size as well as establish the requisite preliminary work for a subsequent R01. Given that over 220,000 new recruits enter the military annually in one of the service branches, the public health implications of an effective brief tobacco intervention targeting the most commonly used tobacco for military personnel in Technical Training is considerable. If the BTI is proven efficacious it can be easily disseminated to other service branches that have similar tobacco bans during Technical Training.

Conditions

• Tobacco Use
• Tobacco Smoking
• Smoking, Cigar
• Smoking, Pipe
• Smoking, Hookah
• Nicotine Dependence

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

BTI

Brief Tobacco Intervention (BTI). The group intervention was designed to include the components of effective tobacco control programs for military personnel, and specifically tailored to the Technical Training environment. The intervention is approximately 40 minutes and delivered in a group format (e.g., groups of 50 Airmen). The format of the BTI is meant to be interactive, utilizing the Socratic teaching style and eliciting participation through the principles of motivational interviewing. A series of open-ended questions, reflections, and decisional balance, were used to increases motivation to remain tobacco free.

BEHAVIORAL

Cigarette smoking military tailored pamphlet

The Airmen's Guide is 5×7 inches, 46 pages, with text and color illustration. The text covers the advantages of remaining tobacco-free after Basic Military Training, and the opportunity the ban provides to begin a lifetime without tobacco, focusing on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Information is included about challenges and coping suggestions for the times that Airmen are at particular risk of smoking. The text is supplemented by images created specifically for Airmen and designed to reinforce the messages that smoking: 1) is responsible for more fatalities than combat; 2) conveys a negative image to civilians; and 3) impedes military readiness and promotion through the ranks.

BEHAVIORAL

Standard smoking cessation intervention

This booklet is a 36-page, comprehensive guide for quitting smoking with 7 pages dedicated to relapse-prevention.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Virginia

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-04-05

Primary Completion

2018-01-31

Completion

2018-01-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations