Prospective Evaluation of a Comprehensive Smoke-Free Public Housing Policy in a Multi-State Setting

President and Fellows of Harvard College

Status: Completed

Conditions: Smoking Cessation

Treatments: Behavioral: Control; Behavioral: Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02492633

MAHHU0025-14

Details and patient eligibility

About

The primary objective of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of an enhanced intervention vs. a standard intervention to complement a comprehensive smoke-free policy, in a multi-site, privately managed affordable housing context.

Full description

Beacon Communities, a private property management company, is unveiling a comprehensive smoking ban at all 52 of its properties. A multi-component, "enhanced" intervention designed to promote, strengthen, and maintain a smoke-free policy across public housing developments will be implemented prior to commencement of the smoke-free policy. The enhanced intervention will be tested against a standard intervention of educational materials and information on cessation options. This study will be open to residents at 12 Beacon Communities properties at which a Resident Service Coordinator (RSC) is located.

The primary objective of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of enhanced intervention vs. standard intervention to support a comprehensive smoke-free policy, in a multi-site, privately managed affordable housing context. A further objective is to develop a toolkit of strategies for the large-scale implementation and maintenance of a smoke-free policy in multi-unit affordable housing developments. The toolkit will be the first to be developed directly from an extensive two-stage qualitative analysis and will apply the lessons learned in this study to provide a sustainable resource for property managers seeking to implement smoke-free policies.

Enrollment: 238 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Aged 18 and over
• Able to speak English or Spanish
• A resident of Beacon Communities housing development (12 selected sites)
• Thinks that he/she will be living in his/her Beacon Community for at least the next 12 months

For Smokers:

• Have smoked cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the last week

For Non-Smokers:

• Self-reported exposure to secondhand smoke in the previous 2 months

Exclusion criteria

• Have another household member enrolled in the study

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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238 participants in 2 patient groups

Standard

Active Comparator group

Description:

The Standard Intervention will be offered to residents at all of Beacon Communities properties, regardless of the presence of this study.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control

Enhanced

Experimental group

Description:

At a subset of 6 Beacon Communities properties, residents will receive an 'enhanced intervention' in addition to the 'standard intervention' that Beacon Communities is already providing.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control

Behavioral: Intervention