BREATHE Free Curriculum

September 18, 2026 updated by: Ban Majeed, Augusta University

BREATHE Free: Character Strength and Resilience-Based Curriculum for Successful Tobacco Treatment

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether BREATHE Free, an in-person faith-based smoking cessation program, can help people quit using tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, and e-cigarettes/vapes.

The program consists of 12 weekly group sessions that teach character strengths and resilience-based skills, such as hope, love, and spirituality, using the BREATHE Free curriculum. Participants will also receive free nicotine patches and complete surveys about their tobacco use, character strengths, and resilience.

The study will help us improve the program and determine whether it can reduce or eliminate tobacco use. Success will be measured through participant surveys and verified using expired carbon monoxide (CO) testing, a standard method for confirming smoking cessation.

The main question is: Can participation in the BREATHE Free program help people reduce or quit tobacco use?

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

25

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Georgia
      • Augusta, Georgia, United States, 30912
        • Augusta University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Current use of one or more tobacco products
  • Valid home address in Augusta or the CSRA and able to attend sessions in person held in Augusta, Ga
  • Functioning telephone number
  • Speak, read, write in English

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: BREATHE Free

Attend 12 in-person weekly meetings and go through Breathe Free curriculum.

The curriculum teaches 12 character strengths and resilience practices: love, perspective, prudence, hope, humility, forgiveness, spirituality, self-control, teamwork, perseverance, gratitude, and joy. Each weekly session includes music and movement activities, instruction and discussion focused on one practice, goal setting, and meditation exercises including deep breathing, mindfulness, prayer, gratitude, and forgiveness.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of participants who stopped smoking completely
Time Frame: Measured at week 12

Biochemically verified point prevalence abstinence (7 days)

Measured at week 12
Number of participants who achieved a ≥50% reduction in tobacco use from baseline
Time Frame: Measured in baseline and weeks 12

Number of participants who achieved a ≥50% reduction in tobacco use from baseline, defined as a reduction of at least 50% in the number of cigarettes smoked per day or the number of vaping episodes per day, measured at Week 12 compared with baseline.

Measured in baseline and weeks 12

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of participants who rated the intervention positively at week 12
Time Frame: Program evaluation will be administered on last meeting (week 12)

Number of participants who rated the BREATHE Free intervention favorably (scores of 4 or 5) on the following acceptability and perceived effectiveness items.

Participants will rate their agreement with each statement using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree):

BREATHE Free gave me confidence that I can quit tobacco use. BREATHE Free made me think that quitting tobacco is worthwhile. BREATHE Free made me feel that someone cared whether I quit smoking. BREATHE Free helped me understand the right steps to quit smoking.

Program evaluation will be administered on last meeting (week 12)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 25, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 25, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 3, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

March 6, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 22, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 18, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2051137

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.