Smoking Cessation Intervention Development for Homeless Youth

July 30, 2026 updated by: Julianna Nemeth, Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center

Development of a Contextually Tailored and Optimized Smoking Cessation Intervention for Homeless Youth

This trial develops a contextually tailored and optimized smoking cessation intervention and studies smoking motivations and motivations to quit smoking in homeless youth. Identifying motivations for smoking and motivations to quit smoking may help researchers build a program to help homeless young people quit smoking cigarettes if desired.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Establish a theoretical framework for cessation among homeless youth incorporating phase-specific capabilities and opportunities impacting motivation to engage in cessation. (Multiphase Optimization STrategy [MOST] Step 1) II. Guided by the theoretical framework for cessation among homeless youth, identify a set of cessation intervention components and assess their implementation feasibility. (MOST Step 2)

OUTLINE:

MOST STEP Ia: Participants attend a semi-structured interview over 60 minutes to help establish theoretical model of contextually tailored smoking cessation for homeless youth.

MOST STEP Ib: Participants complete a survey to help establish theoretical model of contextually tailored smoking cessation for homeless youth.

MOST STEP II (FOCUS GROUPS): Participants attend focus groups to help identify a set of cessation intervention components for homeless youth and determine component acceptability and feasibility.

MOST STEP II (FEASIBILITY STUDY): Intervention components are identified and selected from Focus Groups. Participants take part in a study to assess these components for feasibility in implementing in coordination with homeless youth services, as well as determining main effect estimates for future studies.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

179

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

    • Ohio
      • Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43210
        • Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center

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

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Youth who report having smoked some or every day in the past week.
  • Youth who meet criteria for homelessness defined by the 2002 McKinney-Vento Act including those who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; live in a welfare hotel, or place without regular sleeping accommodations; or live in a shared residence with other persons due to the loss of one's housing or economic hardship.

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: MOST STEP Ia (interview)
Participants attend a semi-structured interview over 60 minutes to help establish theoretical model of contextually tailored smoking cessation for homeless youth.
Participate in semi-structured interview
Experimental: MOST STEP Ib (survey)
Participants complete a survey to help establish theoretical model of contextually tailored smoking cessation for homeless youth.
Complete survey
Experimental: MOST STEP II (feasibility study)
Intervention components are identified and selected from Focus Groups. Participants take part in a study to assess these components for feasibility in implementing in coordination with homeless youth services, as well as determining main effect estimates for future studies.
Participate in feasibility study of intervention components
Other Names:
  • Smoking and Tobacco Use Cessation Interventions
Experimental: MOST STEP II (focus groups)
Participants attend focus groups to help identify a set of cessation intervention components for homeless youth and determine component acceptability and feasibility.
Participate in focus group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Youth's Psychological and Physical Capacity
Time Frame: 60 minute semi-structured interview
Factors associated with participant's psychological and physical capacity which have prompted them to smoke in the past were captured during semi-structured interviews. In-person interviews followed a semi-structured interview guide. Questions were grounded in the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation for Behavior model, a theoretical framework that describes how intersecting psychosocial and environmental factors influence behavior. Questions were designed to elicit data on factors influencing tobacco use at a specific moment in time (participants' "last smoke") with the intent to optimize supportive cessation interventions for this population.
60 minute semi-structured interview
Youth's Physical and Social Factors
Time Frame: Approximately 90 minute interview
Coping with homelessness was assessed using the Brief COPE to examine strategies used for coping or regulating cognition in response to stressors; participants were specifically asked to focus on their housing situation. This measure includes 28 items combined to form 14 subscales. Scores on each subscale range from 2 to 8 with higher scores indicating greater use of the strategy.
Approximately 90 minute interview
Motivation to Quit
Time Frame: Approximately 90 minute interview
Interest in quitting in the next 30 days is an exemplar Phase-Based Model (PBM) for Cessation Research motivation phase treatment outcome measure. Participants reported if and when they planned to quit, derived from, "Do you plan to quit for good?" and "When do you plan to quit for good? In the next (7 days, 30 days, 6 months, year, more than a year from now)."
Approximately 90 minute interview
Past Quit Attempts
Time Frame: Approximately 90 minute interview
Number of past year quit attempts: a proxy for past willingness to quit. Participants reported the number of quit attempts in the past year: "In the past 12 months, how many times have you quit smoking for at least 24 hours in a serious attempt to quit?"
Approximately 90 minute interview
Confidence in Ability to Quit in Next 6 Months
Time Frame: Approximately 90 minute interview
Confidence in ability to quit in the next 6 months was measured with: "If you did try quitting smoking altogether in the next 6 months, how likely do you think you would be to succeed - not at all, a little likely, somewhat likely or very likely?"
Approximately 90 minute interview
Motivations for Smoking
Time Frame: Approximately 90 minute interview

The Tobacco Motives Inventory was used; 15 questions, each scored on a 5-point Likert scale, were combined into four sub-scales: social motives, self enhancement motives, boredom relief motives, and affect regulation motives. Higher scores on each sub-scale indicate a higher motivation to smoke.

Social motives: Sum of 4 items, scores range from 4 to 20 Self enhancement motives: Sum of 4 items, scores range from 4 to 20 Boredom relief motives: Sum of 2 items, scores range from 2 to 10 Affect regulation motives: Sum of 5 items, scores range from 5 to 25

Approximately 90 minute interview
Rewards From Quitting Smoking
Time Frame: Approximately 90 minute interview
We measured 15 different rewards from smoking: "What are the benefits of smoking to you? Check all that apply"
Approximately 90 minute interview

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Julianna Nemeth, Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center

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.

Helpful Links

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)

September 20, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 26, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

April 26, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 17, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 23, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

December 31, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 30, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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.

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