Prospective Evaluation of a Comprehensive Smoke-Free Public Housing Policy in a Multi-State Setting

The primary objective of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of an enhanced intervention vs. a standard intervention to complement a comprehensive smoke-free policy, in a multi-site, privately managed affordable housing context.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Smoking Cessation
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Control; Behavioral: Intervention

Detailed Description

Beacon Communities, a private property management company, is unveiling a comprehensive smoking ban at all 52 of its properties. A multi-component, "enhanced" intervention designed to promote, strengthen, and maintain a smoke-free policy across public housing developments will be implemented prior to commencement of the smoke-free policy. The enhanced intervention will be tested against a standard intervention of educational materials and information on cessation options. This study will be open to residents at 12 Beacon Communities properties at which a Resident Service Coordinator (RSC) is located.

The primary objective of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of enhanced intervention vs. standard intervention to support a comprehensive smoke-free policy, in a multi-site, privately managed affordable housing context. A further objective is to develop a toolkit of strategies for the large-scale implementation and maintenance of a smoke-free policy in multi-unit affordable housing developments. The toolkit will be the first to be developed directly from an extensive two-stage qualitative analysis and will apply the lessons learned in this study to provide a sustainable resource for property managers seeking to implement smoke-free policies.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 238
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 18 and over
• Able to speak English or Spanish
• A resident of Beacon Communities housing development (12 selected sites)
• Thinks that he/she will be living in his/her Beacon Community for at least the next 12 months

For Smokers:

• Have smoked cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the last week

For Non-Smokers:

• Self-reported exposure to secondhand smoke in the previous 2 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• Have another household member enrolled in the study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Standard; The Standard Intervention will be offered to residents at all of Beacon Communities properties, regardless of the presence of this study.	Behavioral: Control; The Standard Intervention will be offered to residents at all of Beacon Communities properties, regardless of the presence of this study. The standard intervention will be implemented as part of the smoke-free initiative roll out and will consist of: monthly articles in newsletters, re-usable shopping bag giveaways touting cessation messages, information provided via the property websites, and training of Residential Service Coordinators (RSCs) using the 8-session smoking cessation group training provided by the American Lung Association. The RSCs will offer group cessation counseling sessions for residents who would like support to quit smoking.
Experimental: Enhanced; At a subset of 6 Beacon Communities properties, residents will receive an 'enhanced intervention' in addition to the 'standard intervention' that Beacon Communities is already providing.	Behavioral: Control; The Standard Intervention will be offered to residents at all of Beacon Communities properties, regardless of the presence of this study. The standard intervention will be implemented as part of the smoke-free initiative roll out and will consist of: monthly articles in newsletters, re-usable shopping bag giveaways touting cessation messages, information provided via the property websites, and training of Residential Service Coordinators (RSCs) using the 8-session smoking cessation group training provided by the American Lung Association. The RSCs will offer group cessation counseling sessions for residents who would like support to quit smoking.; Behavioral: Intervention; At a subset of 6 Beacon Communities properties, residents will receive an 'enhanced intervention' in addition to the 'standard intervention' that Beacon Communities is already providing. The enhanced intervention will consist of the following: A web-based smoking cessation intervention via Facebook; Enhanced gain-framed messaging communicated via several channels. Gain framed messages will incorporate themes of smoking cessation and policies which aim to distinguish from the vast 'library' of traditional messages which focus on loss-framing.; A behavioral "nudge" designed to enhance public support for the smoke free policy, through personal adoption and adherence to the policy. This will be done by promoting a publicly viewable "pledge" program.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in cigarettes smoked in the home	Cigarettes smoked in the home (defined as self-reported number of cigarettes smoked in the home in past 30 days) at the 12-month follow up assessment, compared with pre-baseline level.	12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Air quality	Indoor air quality will be measured using airborne nicotine concentration (ug/m3) at the 12-month follow up assessment, compared with pre-baseline level.	12 months
Change in motivation to quit smoking	Motivation to quit smoking (assessed by self-report on the 12-month follow up assessment), at 12 month follow-up, compared with pre-baseline level.	12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)
• Collaborators: Boston University; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Vaughan Rees, PhD, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 1, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): November 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 6, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 6, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): July 8, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 7, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 5, 2017
• Last Verified: August 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Smoking cessation; Tobacco control; Smoke-free housing; Affordable housing; Second-hand smoke
• Other Study ID Numbers: MAHHU0025-14

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

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