Take a Break (TAB): mHealth-assisted Skills Building Challenge for Unmotivated Smokers

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Smoking Cessation

Interventions: Behavioral: NRT and mHealth assessment tool without feedback
Behavioral: Take a Break as an augmentation to NRT-sampling in Motivation Phase

Registration Number: NCT02973425

Lead Sponsor: University of Massachusetts, Worcester

Brief Summary: Take a Break (TAB) is a randomized trial designed to evaluate Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)-sampling and a mHealth suite of apps. TAB is a time-limited self-efficacy and skills building experience for Motivation Phase smokers. TAB is designed to create a timeline within which motivation smokers will be encouraged to try a brief period of abstinence. Smokers in this Motivation Phase are relatively untapped in research available information. This project offers these smokers point-of-need technology support in the many components of the intervention..

Detailed Description: The Take a Break intervention is designed to increase self-efficacy and support new skills for Motivation Phase smokers. We hypothesize that, compared with the NRT-only group, the Take a Break group will have a greater number of days abstinent during the 'break' period, a greater increase in self-efficacy at the end of the 'break' period, a lower time to first quit attempt, and a higher rate of quit at 6 months. This research study will also provide valuable insight into this population of smokers and increase our understanding of which tools may be effective in helping them quit smoking Our Specific Aims are

* AIM 1: Refine the Take a Break mHealth tool and implementation program.

* AIM 2: Conduct a randomized trial of the effectiveness of Take a Break.

* AIM 3: Follow participants in the AIM 2 randomized clinical trial for 6 months to evaluate time to quit attempts, number of quit attempts, and 6-month biochemically verified point prevalent cessation.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 433

Inclusion Criteria

For all Aims, investigators will include individuals 18 years and older who are identified as current smokers who are not preparing to quit, and are active in care within the UMMHC system, Northwell Health in Long Island, NY, Reliant Medical Group (RMG) in Worcester, MA and Central Western Massachusetts VA (VACWM) in Worcester, MA. Active in care is defined as having at least two clinical visits in the past year. If an eligible participant does not already have a smart phone, one will be provided to them, free of charge, for the duration of their participation in the study.

Exclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria: Those unwilling to sample nicotine lozenges or participate in the game will be excluded. All patients already on NRT will be excluded. All participants who have a FDA contraindication or cautions for nicotine lozenge use (pregnancy, breastfeeding, recent cardiovascular distress, or phenylketonuria) will be excluded. We have chosen to exclude patients with a diagnosis of depression, due to confounding factors.

Adults unable to consent, individuals who are not yet adults (infants, children, teenagers), and prisoners will be excluded from this study. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises caution for nicotine lozenge use among women who are pregnant. Thus, women who are pregnant at the time of baseline will be excluded from the study.

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
NRT and mHealth assessment tool without feedback	NRT and mHealth assessment tool without feedback	For the comparison group, implementation will be balanced in all variables except the Take a Break Intervention. The investigators will balance the two groups further by having the comparison (NRT-Sampling group) complete mHealth assessments (without feedback or goal-setting) as an attention control. Participants randomized to the comparison group will only have access to a mHealth assessment tool similar to the "Challenge Quizzes" but without feedback.
Take a Break as an augmentation to NRT in Motivation	Take a Break as an augmentation to NRT-sampling in Motivation Phase	The Intervention: Take a Break as an augmentation to NRT-sampling in Motivation Phase. Take a Break is an intervention in which smokers are encouraged to engage in smoking abstinence. The main element, the "Break," is a two-week challenge where smokers report days they are smoke-free. The Break is preceded by a 1-week training challenge where Challenge Quizzes (ecological momentary assessments) collect information to guide the smokers during the Break. At baseline, all smokers will be provided NRT lozenges for sampling. At weeks 1 and 3 of the "Marathon", our Tobacco Treatment Specialist will call all smokers, assess their experiences and collect data.Participants in the intervention will receive the full tool suite.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Time to First Quit Attempt	6 months	Time to first quit attempt is measured by participant self-report of number of days from baseline to first quit attempt within a 6 month period. At the 6-month follow-up visit, the dates of all quit attempts were assessed using the Timeline Follow-Back Method and used to calculate time to first quit attempt.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Self-Efficacy at the End of the 6 Months	6 months	Self Efficacy is measured by the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (SEQ-12).The SEQ-12 is a 12-item instrument (two six-item subscales) that measures the confidence in ability to refrain from smoking when facing internal stimuli (e.g. feeling depressed) and external stimuli (e.g. being with smokers). The scale varies from 1-5 \[Not at all (1) Not very(2) Moderately(3) Very (4) Extremely (5)\] A higher score indicates a higher level of confidence to refrain from smoking in certain social or emotional situations and a lower score indicates a lower level of confidence to refrain from smoking.
Point Prevalent Cessation as Measured by Carbon Monoxide Levels	6 months	Point prevalent cessation here is measured by the number of participants with a decreased carbon monoxide level as verified by carbon monoxide levels in blood.
Number of Participants Abstinent During the First 3 Weeks	3 Weeks	Number of participants abstinent within the 3 week period as self-reported by participant via the mHealth assessment. .
Mean Number of Days Abstinent During the First 3 Weeks	3 Weeks	Measure the mean number of days abstinent as self-reported by participant via the mHealth assessment.

Trial Locations

Locations (4): University of Massachusetts Medical School
🇺🇸
Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
Northwell Health
🇺🇸
Great Neck, New York, United States
VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System
🇺🇸
Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
Reliant Medical Group
🇺🇸
Worcester, Massachusetts, United States