mHealth for Smoking Cessation in Public Housing

Smoking rates among public housing residents are more than twice as high as in the general population. In August 2018, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) required all public housing in the U.S. to become smoke-free. While HUD recommended that Public Housing Authorities provide smoking cessations services, at present, the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA) does not offer any cessation services to its residents. Low-income smokers face unique challenges to smoking cessation and require sustained support for smoking cessation. Digital interventions such as text messaging programs and quitline (QL) phone counseling are scalable, evidence-based interventions for smoking cessation that can provide support over an extended timeframe at low cost.

The aim of this proposed research is to conduct a feasibility trial to assess the acceptability, levels of engagement, and preliminary efficacy of an integrated program that combines text-messaging for smoking cessation and text messages providing proactive linkage to the quitline compared to a single passive quitline text message referral among DCHA residents. The investigators hypothesize that the integrated program (combining text messages for smoking cessation and proactive quitline linkage) will yield significantly higher rates of quit attempts than passive quitline referral only.