Smokers' Quitline for Asian Language Speakers

The study tested the effects of telephone counseling for smokers from three Asian language speaking groups: Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. The specific aims were to: 1) test the efficacy of a culturally appropriate counseling protocol for smokers calling the California Smokers' Helpline on the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese lines, 2) examine whether intervention effects varied by cognitive and behavioral predictors of cessation success, 4) examine whether family involvement plays a role in quitting success, and 5) assess differences in counseling effect across the three ethnic groups.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Smoking Cessation
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Telephone Counseling; Behavioral: Self-Help Materials

Detailed Description

Asian Americans are among the least studied groups in smoking research, which has created a knowledge gap in understanding their behavior and in developing methods to help them quit. No efficacy data have been reported for telephone counseling of smokers who prefer to use Asian languages, although telephone intervention holds promise for these groups because of its convenience and its potential to reach large numbers of smokers. In this two-arm design subjects are stratified by language (Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese) and randomized to telephone counseling (plus materials) or self-help materials only, which serves as the control. The study is significant in several ways. First, it provides timely information on a cessation approach for a traditionally under-served population (Asian language speakers). Second, effective telephone counseling can be widely applied because of the proliferation of quitlines with centralized services in recent years. Third, by targeting Asian language speakers this study addresses the issue of ethnic disparities, which has been identified by many (including the NCI Bypass Budget) as a research priority.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 2277
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • San Diego, California, United States, 92093
      • University of California San Diego

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 75 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18-75 years old,
• daily smoker,
• ready to quit within one month,
• first time caller,
• valid phone number,
• valid address,
• California (CA) resident,
• gave consent to participate in study and evaluation,
• called the Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese line

Exclusion Criteria:

• used other form of tobacco,
• major medical or psychiatric complication (e.g. lung cancer, major depressive disorder, anti-psychotic medicine, recent stroke, impending surgery)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Telephone Counseling	Behavioral: Telephone Counseling; Counseling is conducted in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, or Vietnamese by counselors at the Helpline. The protocol used is similar to that proved efficacious. However, to make the counseling culturally appropriate for Asian language speakers, we: capitalizing on first contact, present the Helpline as a credible quit smoking program staffed by "experts", avoid the term "counseling" since it is associated with mental illness, and assume a more authoritative role and directive counseling style. Counseling is proactive (1st call is made by smoker, then subsequent calls are made by the counselor) to help reduce attrition. Counseling includes a 30-40 minute comprehensive pre-quit session plus up to 5 shorter follow-up calls (about 10 minutes) scheduled according to the probability of relapse.; Behavioral: Self-Help Materials; All subjects (both in the telephone counseling group and the materials-only group) receive self-help materials in teh appropriate language. Materials were created in-house, are written in the appropriate language, and cover the essentials of the quitting process such as motivation, physiological and emotional responses to quitting, nicotine in the body, quitting aids, quitting strategies (including those that might be culturally specific such as acupuncture or herbs), setting a quit date, planning, relapse prevention, differentiating between slips and relapse, long-term maintenance, and developing the nonsmoker self-image.
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Self-help Materials	Behavioral: Self-Help Materials; All subjects (both in the telephone counseling group and the materials-only group) receive self-help materials in teh appropriate language. Materials were created in-house, are written in the appropriate language, and cover the essentials of the quitting process such as motivation, physiological and emotional responses to quitting, nicotine in the body, quitting aids, quitting strategies (including those that might be culturally specific such as acupuncture or herbs), setting a quit date, planning, relapse prevention, differentiating between slips and relapse, long-term maintenance, and developing the nonsmoker self-image.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of participants who are continuously abstinent from cigarettes	Continuous abstinence from cigarettes	7-months post enrollment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of participants who are continuously abstinent from cigarettes	Continuous abstinence from cigarettes	4-months post enrollment
Rate of serious quit attempts	Quit Attempts	4-months post enrollment
30-day point prevalence	30-day point prevalence	4-months post enrollment
30-day point prevalence	30-day point prevalence	7-months post enrollment
Rate of serious quit attempts	Quit Attempts	7-months post enrollment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, San Diego
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Zhu SH, Wong S, Stevens C, Nakashima D, Gamst A. Use of a smokers' quitline by Asian language speakers: results from 15 years of operation in California. Am J Public Health. 2010 May;100(5):846-52. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.168385. Epub 2010 Mar 18.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: August 1, 2004
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): April 1, 2008
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): November 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 24, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 24, 2010
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): November 25, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): February 13, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 11, 2020
• Last Verified: February 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: smoking cessation; tobacco cessation; tobacco use disorder; self-help; telephone; smoking abstinence; disparity
• Other Study ID Numbers: 5R01CA104573-5; R01CA104573 (NIH)