Smoking Cessation Program for the Elderly

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Smoking Cessation; Aged; Telemedicine; Motivation
• Interventions: Behavioral: Financial incentive; Behavioral: Mobile health support; Behavioral: Combine intervention; Behavioral: Control group

• Registration Number: NCT06234475
• Lead Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong

Brief Summary

This study aims to assess the effect of mobile health (mHealth) support or financial incentives and their interactive intervention effect on smoking cessation (SC) in old smokers in Hong Kong (HK).

Detailed Description

Low-income older smokers are disproportionally harmed by tobacco use and the evidence of effectiveness of smoking cessation (SC) intervention for this deprived group is scarce. Leveraging evidence of effectiveness of mHealth support and financial incentives in other adults, the investigators propose a scalable mHealth and/or financial incentives model using age-friendly components for the deprived older smokers.

The 2x2 factorial design consists of 2 interventions, including (1) smartphone mHealth support by scheduled age-friendly multimedia e-messages and real-time personalized behavioral supports for 3 months, and (2) an escalating incentive scheme for smoking abstinence: HK$500 for using any SC services within 6 months, and HK$1000, 1500 and 2000 for biochemically validated abstinence at 3-, 6- and 12-month, respectively.

The study aims to assess the effectiveness of two interventions and their interactive intervention effect.

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2024-01
• Study First Submitted: 2024-01-22
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-01-22
• Study First Posted: 2024-01-31
• Study Start: 2024-02-20
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-05-29
• Last Update Posted: 2024-05-31
• Primary Completion: 2026-05
• Study Completion: 2026-11

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1200

Inclusion Criteria

1. Smokers aged 60 years or above;

2. Currently smoking cigarettes or alternative tobacco products daily in the past 3 months with an exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) level ≥4ppm or salivary cotinine >30 ng/ml;

3. Have a mobile phone that can receive short message/messaging Service (SMS) or instant messages (IM);

4. Having a household monthly income lower than the median income of domestic household in Hong Kong

5. Hong Kong residents able to communicate in Chinese.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Smokers not physically nor mentally fit for communication;
2. Smokers currently using SC services;
3. Hospitalized smokers;
4. Not having a mobile phone or perceived difficulty in using mobile phone or communication Apps

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: FACTORIAL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Financial incentive group	Financial incentive	An escalating incentive scheme for smoking abstinence: HK$500 for using any SC services within 6 months, and HK$1000, 1500 and 2000 for biochemically validated abstinence at 3-, 6- and 12-month, respectively.
Mobile health group	Mobile health support	Smartphone mHealth support for smoking cessation by scheduled age-friendly multimedia e-messages and real-time personalized behavioral supports for 3 months.
Combined intervention group	Combine intervention	Smartphone mHealth support for smoking cessation by scheduled age-friendly multimedia e-messages and real-time personalized behavioral supports for 3 months and an escalating incentive scheme for smoking abstinence: HK$500 for using any SC services within 6 months, and HK$1000, 1500 and 2000 for biochemically validated abstinence at 3-, 6- and 12-month, respectively.
Control group	Control group	Brief advice

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The biochemically validated smoking abstinence	the 6-month follow-ups	Smoking abstinence is defined by exhaled CO \< 4 ppm and salivary cotinine \<30 ng/ml

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The biochemically validated smoking abstinence	the 3- and 12-month follow-ups	Smoking abstinence is defined by exhaled CO \< 4 ppm and salivary cotinine \<30 ng/ml
Self-reported 7-day point-prevalence abstinence	3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups	Smokers who did not smoke even a puff in the 7 days preceding the follow-up
Self-reported self-efficacy of quitting	3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups	Self-reported self-efficacy of quitting includes the perception of quitting importance, difficulty and confidence, assessing by an item scaled with 0-10, respectively. The score of zero refers to very unimportant, very easy, or very unconfident. The score of 10 refers to very important, very difficult or very confident, respectively. Higher score refers to higher perception of quitting importance, difficulty and confidence.
Self-reported smoking change	3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups	Self-reported change in number of cigarettes smoked daily of at least less 50% of the baseline number
Self-reported quit attempts	3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups	Self-reported quit attempt
Smoking cessation services use	3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups	Using the smoking cessation service from hospitals or government in Hong Kong
Nicotine dependence level	3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups	Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND)
Self-reported intention to quit	3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups	self-reported intention to quit in next days

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong; 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong