Helping Poor Smokers Quit

December 4, 2023 updated by: Matthew Kreuter, Washington University School of Medicine

Helping the Poor Quit Smoking: Specialized Quitlines and Meeting Basic Needs

Using a 2x2 randomized factorial design, we will conduct a statewide field trial in Missouri to compare the relative and combined effects of these two strategies for augmenting an existing, evidence-based tobacco quitline program. Among 2000 low-income smokers, half will receive standard Missouri quitline services and half will receive new Specialized Quitline services targeted to this group. In each of these groups, half also will receive calls from a trained navigator to help them address unmet Basic Needs and the accompanying psychological distress that act as barriers to smoking cessation.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

2-1-1 information specialists will deliver standard service, then ask a random number of callers per day if they would be willing to answer a few health questions as part of a new 2-1-1 service. Callers eligible to receive the invitation to screen for study eligibility will be: Missouri residents, calling for themselves, English-speaking, and not in acute crisis. Eligible smokers will then be asked if they are willing to share their contact information with a research team conducting a study to help smokers quit. Smokers who agree to share their contact information will be considered "enrolled". Trained 2-1-1 operators will record all recruitment screening data in a secure electronic database that is shared with research staff. Research staff will attempt to reach enrolled smokers by phone by the next business day.

Alere, through the Missouri Tobacco Quitline, will provide quitline services to smokers in all study conditions. Contact information and study group assignment for smokers will be provided to Alere via secure data transfer.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1944

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

    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis, Missouri, United States, 63130
        • Washington University in St. Louis

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18 years and older
  • Missouri resident
  • English speaking
  • Not in crisis
  • Smoke cigarettes every day of the week
  • Planning to quit smoking in the next 30 days
  • Comfortable receiving calls from smoking expert and project team
  • Willing to provide phone numbers to be reached

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnant or planning to become pregnant in the next 3 months
  • Currently breastfeeding
  • Insurance through employer
  • Currently enrolled in smoking quitline

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: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Standard Quitline
Participants will receive standard Missouri quitline services
Experimental: Specialized Quitline
Participants will receive an enhanced version of the standard quitline services
Very low-income smokers are different from other smokers in important ways not always addressed by standard quitline services. The research team and Alere staff has created custom protocols, scripts, prompts and other content to maximize intervention relevance and acceptability to very low-income smokers. Research Implementation Unit (RIU) coaches who will be delivering the Specialized Quitline services have received training from clinical quitline staff, the research team and 2-1-1 staff who have extensive experience with the target population. Focus areas for training and distinctive content and protocol for the Specialized Quitline include: health literacy, abstract vs. concrete language, lived experience, resource constraints, future orientation, getting cigarettes, living situation, phone/internet access.
Experimental: Standard Quitline with Basic Needs Navigator
Participants receive standard quitline services with navigator
Navigators will: (1) identify and assess smokers' needs, including the reasons they called 2-1-1; (2) jointly generate solutions to address the needs; (3) develop plans to carry out the solutions, including; (4) help prioritize among multiple needs; (5) identify community resources that could help solve the problem; (6) determine eligibility for services; (7) help smokers access available resources by scheduling appointments and provide appointment reminders; (8) prepare smokers to interact with service agencies and/or act as an advocate on their behalf; (9) provide instrumental support such as arranging transportation; (10) actively intervene to resolve barriers to basic needs solutions; (11) oversee follow-up of problem solving actions; and (12) review progress made towards resolving unmet basic needs and adapt solutions accordingly.
Experimental: Specialized Quitline with Basic Needs Navigator
Participants receive enhanced quitline services with navigator
Very low-income smokers are different from other smokers in important ways not always addressed by standard quitline services. The research team and Alere staff has created custom protocols, scripts, prompts and other content to maximize intervention relevance and acceptability to very low-income smokers. Research Implementation Unit (RIU) coaches who will be delivering the Specialized Quitline services have received training from clinical quitline staff, the research team and 2-1-1 staff who have extensive experience with the target population. Focus areas for training and distinctive content and protocol for the Specialized Quitline include: health literacy, abstract vs. concrete language, lived experience, resource constraints, future orientation, getting cigarettes, living situation, phone/internet access.
Navigators will: (1) identify and assess smokers' needs, including the reasons they called 2-1-1; (2) jointly generate solutions to address the needs; (3) develop plans to carry out the solutions, including; (4) help prioritize among multiple needs; (5) identify community resources that could help solve the problem; (6) determine eligibility for services; (7) help smokers access available resources by scheduling appointments and provide appointment reminders; (8) prepare smokers to interact with service agencies and/or act as an advocate on their behalf; (9) provide instrumental support such as arranging transportation; (10) actively intervene to resolve barriers to basic needs solutions; (11) oversee follow-up of problem solving actions; and (12) review progress made towards resolving unmet basic needs and adapt solutions accordingly.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Abstinence 6-months
Time Frame: 6 months post-baseline
Report 7-day point prevalence abstinence measured at 6-months post --baseline
6 months post-baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Abstinence 3-months
Time Frame: 3 months post-baseline
Report 7-day point prevalence abstinence measured at 3-months post-baseline
3 months post-baseline
24hr Quit Attempt
Time Frame: 6 months post-baseline
Report quitting smoking for at least 24 hours during intervention
6 months post-baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Matthew Kreuter, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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)

June 5, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 19, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 20, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

June 21, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

December 26, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 4, 2023

Last Verified

December 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R01CA201429 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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.

Clinical Trials on Smoking

Clinical Trials on Specialized Quitline

Subscribe