Preliminary Effectiveness of Enhanced Text Message + Incentives

April 13, 2026 updated by: University of Kansas Medical Center

Preliminary Studies on Implementation of Smoking Cessation Interventions for Low-Income Women

This study is a preliminary evaluation of a smoking cessation intervention designed for pregnant women that combines text message support and financial incentives.

The aims of this study are to determine the preliminary feasibility and acceptability of text message + incentives (intervention) vs. text message only (control).

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Pregnant women who smoke and their babies are exposed to known carcinogens and smoking is associated with adverse maternal and birth outcomes. Low-income pregnant women are particularly at risk because they have higher smoking rates and are less likely to quit. Despite continued smoking, most pregnant smokers do not receive smoking cessation counseling and only one in 10 receive referrals to cessation services or follow-up care. Incentives for smoking cessation yield the highest effect sizes of any intervention for pregnant women. Most prior studies evaluating incentives for smoking cessation in this population have used time and resource-intensive in-person visits to verify abstinence for contingent reinforcement. The long-term goal of this research is to reduce the burden of tobacco use by developing and evaluating a highly scalable, effective intervention to support smoking cessation during pregnancy.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

30

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

  • United States
    • Kansas
      • Kansas City, Kansas, United States, 66160
        • Recruiting
        • University of Kansas Medical Center
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Taneisha Scheuermann, PhD

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnant women aged: 18+
  • Enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for women, Infants, and Children (WIC) or Medicaid (or applied/applying)
  • Self-reported current daily smokers
  • Able to communicate in English
  • Access to a mobile phone capable of receiving text messages

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not at all interested in quitting
  • Smoke less than 24 days in the past month
  • Greater than 30 weeks gestation

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Text Messaging + Incentives
Participants in this arm will receive a combination of text messages designed to support smoking cessation and escalating financial incentives contingent on biochemically-verified smoking abstinence (exhaled carbon monoxide).
Behavioral: Text Messages
Intervention Component - Text messages (SmokeFreeTXT library with pregnancy related messages) participants will receive scheduled messages to support quitting and prevent relapse.
Behavioral: Incentives
Incentives for abstinence - Weeks 1-4; 8; 12: Twice daily CO assessments with verification sent via text-message. Participants will receive daily incentives ranging each day of smoking abstinence.
Active Comparator: Text Messaging Only
Participants in this arm will receive the same text messaging program as in Arm 1, but without the financial incentives contingent on abstinence.
Behavioral: Text Messages
Intervention Component - Text messages (SmokeFreeTXT library with pregnancy related messages) participants will receive scheduled messages to support quitting and prevent relapse.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Feasibility of Intervention
Time Frame: 4 weeks post-randomization
Retention rate.
4 weeks post-randomization
Acceptability of Intervention
Time Frame: 4 weeks post-randomization
Participant ratings of acceptability.
4 weeks post-randomization

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Smoking Abstinence
Time Frame: 4 weeks post-randomization
Biochemically verified smoking abstinence (exhaled CO)
4 weeks post-randomization

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Kansas Medical Center

Collaborators

National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

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)

April 9, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 12, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 12, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 19, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 17, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 13, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00149204

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

IPD Plan Description

Potential for de-identification given small sample size.

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.

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