Tobacco Trials at St. Jude: Parent Willingness to Participate Among Families of Children With Cancer, Sickle Cell Disease, or Survivors of Childhood Cancer

Little is known about what factors influence parental decisions to participate or to decline participation in tobacco trials offered in the pediatric clinical setting. Further, it is unclear what proportion of parents treated in our setting would elect to receive formal assistance with quitting smoking or consider alternative approaches that could facilitate eventual smoking cessation. While the recommendation to parents is generally to quit smoking, some may be unwilling or unable to quit and prefer more achievable alternative treatment goals. Some parent smokers may be unlikely to participate in an intervention aimed only at cessation but would be willing to participate in an intervention focused on establishing smoke-free environments for their child. Parents are typically not offered a choice regarding the type of intervention they receive and many interventions are not tailored to their readiness to quit smoking or designed to reach multiple family members in the home who may also smoke. Quitting smoking and establishing smoke-free homes and cars are distinct, yet challenging, goals for parents and families. Both approaches can directly, or indirectly, help parents to quit smoking, reduce the child's exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS), and initiate an important dialogue with families about tobacco control. How parental acceptability of smoking interventions is affected by the context of their child's treatment for cancer or SCD, as well as survivorship, warrants further study.