This trial will test the efficacy of a 3-month intervention on Facebook targeting tobacco use and heavy episodic drinking against a 3-month Facebook intervention targeting tobacco use. Both groups will be offered a nicotine patch starter kit. The primary outcome is verified 7-day point prevalence abstinence from smoking at 3, 6, and 12 months.
Participants will be randomized to one of two conditions: (1) a Facebook-delivered intervention addressing tobacco use and heavy episodic drinking, tailored to readiness to quit smoking; or (2) a 3-month Facebook intervention targeting tobacco use. Both interventions will include 12 weeks of Facebook-based messages and activities tailored to participants' readiness to quit smoking. Assessments will occur at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months follow-up. Assessments will include measures on smoking and drinking patterns and thoughts about abstinence. All participants who report no past 7-day smoking will be asked to give biochemical verification of smoking status with saliva cotinine test kits that will be mailed to participants.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
179
90 days of Facebook messaging, weekly live sessions targeting tobacco use
90 days of Facebook messaging, weekly live sessions targeting tobacco use and alcohol use
14-day supply of nicotine patch
University of California San Francisco Department of Psychiatry
San Francisco, California, United States
Number of Participants With Reported 7-day Point Prevalence Abstinence at 3 Months
Point prevalent abstinence was defined as biochemically-verified reports of no smoking in the 7 days prior to the 3 month assessment. Participants reporting no smoking in the past 7 days will be coded as abstinent from cigarettes. Participants with a salivary cotinine level \<11 ng/ml, indicating nonsmoking were considered confirmed nonsmokers
Time frame: 3 months post baseline
Number of Participants With Reported 7-day Point Prevalence Abstinence at 6 Months
Point prevalent abstinence was defined as biochemically-verified reports of no smoking in the 7 days prior to the 6 month assessment. Participants reporting no smoking in the past 7 days will be coded as abstinent from cigarettes. Participants with a salivary cotinine level \<11 ng/ml, indicating nonsmoking were considered confirmed nonsmokers
Time frame: 6 months post baseline
Number of Participants With Reported 7-day Point Prevalence Abstinence at 12 Months
Point prevalent abstinence was defined as biochemically-verified reports of no smoking in the 7 days prior to the 12 month assessment. Participants reporting no smoking in the past 7 days will be coded as abstinent from cigarettes. Participants with a salivary cotinine level \<11 ng/ml, indicating nonsmoking were considered confirmed nonsmokers
Time frame: 12 months post baseline
Number of Participants With a Reduction in Cigarettes Smoked Over Time
A reduction was defined as the number of cigarettes smoked in past 7 days prior to the assessment by 50% or more compared to baseline number of cigarettes at 3, 6, and 12 month
Time frame: 3, 6, and 12 months post baseline
Number of Participants Whom Attempted to Quit Tobacco Use During the Course of Treatment
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An attempt was defined by the participants response to the a question as to whether or not they had made an attempt to quit smoking during the course of treatment at the 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline assessments. Participants who were determined to have made an attempt at least once during the entire course of treatment were scored as yes or no.
Time frame: 3, 6, and 12 month post-baseline
Number of Participant Reporting a Readiness to Quit Tobacco Use Over Time
Readiness to change tobacco use will be assessed with a single-item Readiness Ruler, developed and validated for use with young adult heavy smokers participating in brief intervention and the tobacco item from the Staging Health Risk Assessment (S-HRA) to compare stage of change across tobacco and alcohol use. Plans to limit smoking in next 30 days (or is already). Number of participants ready to change smoking in the next month assessed at 3, 6, and 12 months
Time frame: 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline
Average Score on the Thoughts About Abstinence Questionnaire (Smoking)
The Thoughts About Abstinence Questionnaire (TAAS, (Hall et al., 1991) is a 3 item self-report questionnaire that measures: 1) desire to quit smoking, 2) expected success at quitting, 3) expected difficulty of quitting on 10-point Likert scales (e.g., 1=no desire to quit/lowest expectation/lowest level of difficulty to 10 = extreme desire to quit/highest expectation of success/highest expected difficulty) was assessed at baseline.
Time frame: At Baseline
Average Number of Days of Heavy Episodic Drinking (HED) Over Time
HED is defined as the number of days in the past month with 4+ drinks consumed in a a single occasion for women and 5+ drinks for men. HED was assessed at 3, 6 and 12 months.
Time frame: 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline
Median Number of Drinks Per Week Over Time
The number of drinks per week was defined as drinks per week in the past 30 days and assessed at the 3,6,and 12 month assessments.
Time frame: 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline
Average Score on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test - Concise (AUDIT-C) Over Time
Misuse of alcohol in the past year was assessed by the AUDIT-C. The AUDIT-C is a brief alcohol screening instrument that reliably identifies persons who are hazardous drinkers or have active alcohol use disorders (including alcohol abuse or dependence) and consists of 3 questions with a total score ranging from 0-12, and generally the higher the score, the more likely it is that a person's drinking is affecting his or her safety. Each AUDIT-C question has 5 answer choices valued from 0 points to 4 points. In men, a score of 4 or more is considered positive, optimal for identifying hazardous drinking or active alcohol use disorders. In women, a score of 3 or more is considered positive. Participants were given this assessment at months 3, 6, and 12.
Time frame: 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline
Alcohol Quit Attempt
Follow-up Drinking Questionnaire will assess the presence and number of 24 hr quit attempts since the last assessment. This assessment will be used to calculate presence of at least one quit attempt in the assessment time period and scored as a yes or no.
Time frame: 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline
Readiness to Change Alcohol Use Over Time
Readiness to change alcohol use will be assessed with a single-item Readiness Ruler, developed and validated for use with young adult heavy drinkers participating in brief intervention and the alcohol item from the Staging Health Risk Assessment (S-HRA) to compare stage of change across tobacco and alcohol use. Plans to limit drinking in next 30 days (or is already) Proportion of participants ready to change drinking in the next month assessed at 3, 6, and 12 months
Time frame: 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline
Average Score on the Thoughts About Abstinence Questionnaire (Heavy Episodic Drinking) Over Time
The Thoughts About Abstinence Questionnaire (TAAS, (Hall et al., 1991) is a 4 item self-report questionnaire that measures: 1) desire to quit heavy episodic drinking, 2) expected success at quitting, 3) expected difficulty of quitting, and 4) confidence in ability to quit on 10-point Likert scales (e.g., 1=no desire to quit; 10 = extremely ...adapted for heavy episodic alcohol use
Time frame: 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline
Number of Participants With Reported Combined Use Using Tobacco or Alcohol Over Time
Timeline Follow-back data will be used to calculate the sum of days using any tobacco or binge drinking in the past month.
Time frame: 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline