Smoke-free Air Coalitions in Georgia and Armenia

Summary

This is a matched-pairs community randomized controlled trial (CRCT) to examine the impact of coalitions promoting smoke-free air policies on individual secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe).

This proposal will build the capacity of Georgia (GE) and Armenia (AM) researchers to conduct high-quality mixed methods tobacco research and test the Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) as a framework for impacting local community-driven policy change to inform such processes for the region more broadly. Researchers from the GE National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and AM National Institute of Health (NIH) will collaborate with Emory to execute the proposed research, train tobacco control researchers within their organizations and partnering universities, and train practitioners within local communities to build local coalitions for tobacco control policy.

Twenty-eight communities (14 per country) will participate in the population-level tobacco survey at baseline and follow-up. Within each country, 7 communities will be randomized to the intervention condition and 7 to the control condition (14 communities per condition). In the intervention communities, public health center staff will form a coalition by recruiting partner organizations from civil society and other government sectors (e.g., health care, education), conduct situational assessment, and develop and implement action plans to promote the adoption and enforcement of smoke-free policies primarily in indoor and outdoor public places (e.g., worksites, hospitality). The GE NCDC and AM NIH will establish subcontracts with the local public health centers in the randomly selected communities to provide funding for local staff to develop local coalitions and to support program activities. The 14 communities assigned as controls will participate in the population-level survey and be provided with a site-specific summary of findings but will not participate in any aspects of the intervention. Additionally, to examine potential contamination in the control communities, a follow-up interview will be conducted with public health center leaders to assess any local coalition or grassroots actions regarding tobacco control that may have naturally occurred or be influenced by coalition activity in other communities.

Conditions

• Smoking

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Intervention Condition

The intervention approach will be informed by the Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) developed by Butterfoss and Kegler. CCAT posits that coalitions form due to a threat, opportunity, or mandate. Public health center staff will form a coalition by recruiting partner organizations from civil society and other government sectors (e.g., health care, education), conduct situational assessment, and develop and implement action plans to promote the adoption and enforcement of smoke-free policies in public indoor and and outdoor spaces.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Fogarty International Center of the National Institute of Health

  collaborator NIH

• Emory University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Michelle Kegler, DrPH · Emory University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-10-01

Primary Completion

2022-06-30

Completion

2022-06-30

Countries

• Armenia
• Georgia

Study Locations