Tobacco Status Project: Social Media Intervention for Young Adult Smokers (TSP)

Social Media Intervention for Young Adult Smokers

This randomized clinical trial will test the efficacy of a Facebook intervention based on the Transtheoretical Model (Prochaska and DiClemente) and US Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guidelines with young adults who smoke cigarettes who are age 18 to 25 (N=480).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Smoking
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Facebook intervention; Behavioral: Smokefree.gov

Detailed Description

Participants will be randomized to one of two conditions: (1) a Facebook-delivered intervention tailored to readiness to quit smoking; or (2) the control condition (referral to the Smokefree.gov website). The intervention will include 12 weeks of Facebook-based messages and activities tailored to participants' stage of change.

Assessments will occur at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months follow-up. Assessments will include measures on smoking patterns and thoughts about abstinence. All participants who report no past 7-day smoking will be asked to give biochemical verification of smoking status with saliva cotinine test kits that will be mailed to participants.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 501
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • San Francisco, California, United States, 94143
      • University of California San Francisco Department of Psychiatry

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 25 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• ages 18-25 years old
• english literate
• have access to Smartphone or computer with camera
• indicate they go on Facebook "most" (≥ 4) days per week
• have smoked ≥100 cigarettes in their lives and currently smoke at least 1 cigarette per day on 3 or more days of the week

Exclusion Criteria:

• do not read English
• younger than 18 or older than 25 years of age
• do not have access to a Smartphone or computer with a camera
• only go on Facebook 3 or fewer days a week
• have smoked less than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime or do not currently smoke at least 1 cigarette per day on 3 or more days of the week

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Facebook intervention; Assignment to private group on Facebook with 3 months of content delivered to the group.	Behavioral: Facebook intervention; 90 days of Facebook messaging, weekly Ask the Doctor sessions
Active Comparator: Referral; Referral to smokefree.gov website	Behavioral: Smokefree.gov; referral to the NCI Smokefree.gov website

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
7-day point prevalence abstinence at 3 months	Reports of no smoking in the 7 days prior to the 3 month assessment. Biochemical verification of abstinence will also be recorded.	3 months post baseline
7-day point prevalence abstinence at 6 months	Reports of no smoking in the 7 days prior to the 6 month assessment. Biochemical verification of abstinence will also be recorded.	6 months post baseline
7-day point prevalence abstinence at 12 months	Reports of no smoking in the 7 days prior to the 12 month assessment. Biochemical verification of abstinence will also be recorded.	12 months post baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Reduction in cigarettes smoked by at least 50% between Baseline and each follow-up timepoint	Reduction will be assessed at 3, 6, and 12 month follow-ups.	3, 6, and 12 months post baseline
Quit attempts	Quit attempt during the follow-up period at 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline.	3, 6, and 12 month post-baseline

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Health risk behaviors	We will assess prevalence rates of health risk behaviors other than smoking including recent alcohol and illicit drug use, poor sleep quality, sedentary behavior, poor diet, depression, and high risk sexual behavior.	3, 6, and 12 months post baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Danielle A Ramo, PhD, University of California, San Francisco

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ramo DE, Thrul J, Chavez K, Delucchi KL, Prochaska JJ. Feasibility and Quit Rates of the Tobacco Status Project: A Facebook Smoking Cessation Intervention for Young Adults. J Med Internet Res. 2015 Dec 31;17(12):e291. doi: 10.2196/jmir.5209.
• Ramo DE, Thrul J, Delucchi KL, Ling PM, Hall SM, Prochaska JJ. The Tobacco Status Project (TSP): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of a Facebook smoking cessation intervention for young adults. BMC Public Health. 2015 Sep 15;15:897. doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-2217-0.
• Ramo DE, Liu H, Prochaska JJ. A mixed-methods study of young adults' receptivity to using Facebook for smoking cessation: if you build it, will they come? Am J Health Promot. 2015 Mar-Apr;29(4):e126-35. doi: 10.4278/ajhp.130326-QUAL-128. Epub 2014 Feb 27.
• Ramo DE, Rodriguez TM, Chavez K, Sommer MJ, Prochaska JJ. Facebook Recruitment of Young Adult Smokers for a Cessation Trial: Methods, Metrics, and Lessons Learned. Internet Interv. 2014 Apr;1(2):58-64. doi: 10.1016/j.invent.2014.05.001.
• Ramo DE, Thrul J, Vogel EA, Delucchi K, Prochaska JJ. Multiple Health Risk Behaviors in Young Adult Smokers: Stages of Change and Stability over Time. Ann Behav Med. 2020 Jan 24;54(2):75-86. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaz025.
• McKelvey K, Ramo D. Conversation Within a Facebook Smoking Cessation Intervention Trial For Young Adults (Tobacco Status Project): Qualitative Analysis. JMIR Form Res. 2018 Sep 4;2(2):e11138. doi: 10.2196/11138.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): November 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 13, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 30, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): August 1, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 8, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 5, 2017
• Last Verified: May 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: mobile health; Tobacco; intervention; young adults; Internet; social media; cessation; cigarettes
• Other Study ID Numbers: A119678; 5K23DA032578 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO