Smoke-free Air Coalitions in Georgia and Armenia

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This is a matched-pairs community randomized controlled trial (CRCT) to examine the impact of coalitions promoting smoke-free air policies on individual secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe). This proposal will build the capacity of Georgia (GE) and Armenia (AM) researchers to conduct high-quality mixed methods tobacco research and test the Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) as a framework for impacting local community-driven policy change to inform such processes for the region more broadly. Researchers from the GE National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and AM National Institute of Health (NIH) will collaborate with Emory to execute the proposed research, train tobacco control researchers within their organizations and partnering universities, and train practitioners within local communities to build local coalitions for tobacco control policy. Twenty-eight communities (14 per country) will participate in the population-level tobacco survey at baseline and follow-up. Within each country, 7 communities will be randomized to the intervention condition and 7 to the control condition (14 communities per condition). In the intervention communities, public health center staff will form a coalition by recruiting partner organizations from civil society and other government sectors (e.g., health care, education), conduct situational assessment, and develop and implement action plans to promote the adoption and enforcement of smoke-free policies primarily in indoor and outdoor public places (e.g., worksites, hospitality). The GE NCDC and AM NIH will establish subcontracts with the local public health centers in the randomly selected communities to provide funding for local staff to develop local coalitions and to support program activities. The 14 communities assigned as controls will participate in the population-level survey and be provided with a site-specific summary of findings but will not participate in any aspects of the intervention. Additionally, to examine potential contamination in the control communities, a follow-up interview will be conducted with public health center leaders to assess any local coalition or grassroots actions regarding tobacco control that may have naturally occurred or be influenced by coalition activity in other communities.

Detailed Description
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Public health efforts in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) could be catalyzed by bolstering ways to optimally leverage local talents and resources, such as civil society. Developing effective models for aligning civil society and governmental public health at the local level in LMICs has the potential to impact a range of chronic diseases and risk factors, including tobacco use. Local coalitions have been a dominant strategy in tobacco control in the US, with well-documented success in establishing smoke-free policies specifically. However, this approach has not been widely leveraged or well-studied in LMICs or those with less democratic traditions than the US. Instead, in many LMICs, smoke-free policy progress is largely initiated at the national level. Parallel civil society movements at the local level may be needed to build support for and compliance with policies. Given their sociopolitical histories and high tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe) rates, Georgia (GE) and Armenia (AM) are two strategic settings for the proposed work. The smoking prevalence is 57.7% and 52.3% in men (6th and 11th highest in the world) and 5.7% and 1.5% in women, respectively. Moreover, previous findings indicate extremely high rates of SHSe. However, there is also documented high receptivity to public smoke-free policies despite high use rates. In this matched-pairs community randomized controlled trial (CRCT), the impact of coalitions promoting smoke-free air policies on individual secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe) will be examined. The Emory team will lead the oversight of the research design and execution of all components of the research. This proposal will build the capacity of Georgia (GE) and Armenia (AM) researchers to conduct high-quality mixed methods tobacco research and test the Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) as a framework for impacting local community-driven policy change to inform such processes for the region more broadly. Researchers from the GE National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and AM National Institute of Health (NIH) will collaborate with Emory to execute the proposed research, train tobacco control researchers within their organizations and partnering universities (Tbilisi State Medical University, American University of Armenia), and train practitioners within local communities to build local coalitions for tobacco control policy. This study aims to: conduct a matched-pair community randomized controlled trial in 28 municipalities in GE and AM to examine the impact of local coalitions promoting the adoption of smoke-free policies in public places, with the primary outcome of changes in SHSe over time; assess how community context and coalition factors influence adoption of organizational and municipal smoke-free policies to provide an evidence-base for public health practice; disseminate research findings regarding both the effectiveness and the process of establishing and maintaining coalitions, and consequently increasing smoke-free policies and reducing SHSe, to key stakeholders in GE and AM; and capitalize on the proposed research and dissemination opportunities to build tobacco control research capacity within the GE NCDC, AM NIH, and partnering universities, as well as practice capacity within local public health centers and their civil society partners. Twenty-eight communities (14 per country) will participate in the population-level tobacco survey at baseline and follow-up. Within each country, 7 communities will be randomized to the intervention condition and 7 to the control condition (14 communities per condition). In the intervention communities, public health center staff will form a coalition by recruiting partner organizations from civil society and other government sectors (e.g., health care, education), conduct situational assessment, and develop and implement action plans to promote the adoption and enforcement of smoke-free policies in primarily in indoor and outdoor public places (e.g., worksites, hospitality). The GE NCDC and AM NIH will establish subcontracts with the local public health centers in the randomly selected communities to provide funding for local staff to develop local coalitions and to support program activities. The 14 communities assigned as controls will participate in the population-level survey and be provided with a site-specific summary of findings but will not participate in any aspects of the intervention. Additionally, to examine potential contamination in the control communities, a follow-up interview will be conducted with public health center leaders to assess any local coalition or grassroots actions regarding tobacco control that may have naturally occurred or be influenced by coalition activity in other communities. The GE NCDC and AM NIH will conduct cross-sectional population-level surveys in Year 1 (baseline) and in Years 4/5 (follow-up) in the intervention and control communities. A multi-stage, clustered sample design will be used to select 50 participants within each municipality. The most recent census data for each country and the respective municipalities will be used to establish the sampling frame.

Official Title
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Smoke-free Air Coalitions in Georgia and Armenia: A Community Randomized Trial

Conditions
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Smoking

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Intervention Condition


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Community Level Inclusion Criteria: Population size ranging from approximately 6,000 to 90,000 Exclusion Criteria: Lack of interest of local health care center director

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 65 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: This is a matched-pairs community randomized controlled trial. 14 communities will receive the behavioral intervention and 14 will serve as control communities. Enrollment is on the community level rather than individual level.
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Intervention Condition<br>Fourteen communities will be assigned to the intervention. | Behavioral: Intervention Condition<br>* The intervention approach will be informed by the Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) developed by Butterfoss and Kegler. CCAT posits that coalitions form due to a threat, opportunity, or mandate. Public health center staff will form a coalition by recruiting partner organizations from civil society and other government sectors (e.g., health care, education), conduct situational assessment, and develop and implement action plans to promote the adoption and enforcement of smoke-free policies in public indoor and and outdoor spaces.<br>|
| No Intervention: Control Condition<br>The 14 communities assigned as controls will participate in the population-level survey and will be provided with a site-specific summary of findings but will not participate in any aspects of the intervention. To examine potential contamination in the control communities, a follow-up interview will be conducted with public health center leaders to assess any local coalition or grassroots actions regarding tobacco control that may have naturally occurred or be influenced by coalition activity in other communities. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Secondhand Smoke Exposure | The frequency of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in the past 30 days was assessed by asking the respondent to report the number of days they were exposed to SHS. | Baseline, Follow-up (approximately 44 months post-baseline) | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Attitude Regarding Secondhand Smoke Exposure | Attitudes regarding Secondhand Smoke Exposure (SHSe) were examined by assessing the degree to which the respondent believes that smoke causes illnesses. Participants were asked Based on what you know or believe, does breathing other people's smoke cause serious illness in non-smokers? Possible responses are 1 = not at all, 2 = a little, 3 = somewhat, or 4 = a lot. | Baseline, Follow-up (approximately 44 months post-baseline) | 
| Attitude Regarding Smoke-Free Environments | To assess attitudes regarding smoke-free environments, respondents were asked whether they think smoking should or should not be allowed in places such as workplaces, indoor areas on school grounds, outdoor events, restaurants, and bars. Participants indicated how much the supported or opposed complete cigarette smoking bans on a 4-point scale where 1 = strongly oppose and 4 = strongly support. | Baseline, Follow-up (approximately 44 months post-baseline) | 
| Count of Participants Agreeing With Certain Home Policies | Smoke-free home policies at baseline and follow-up were assessed by asking about rules about smoking inside of the participant's home. Possible responses included: smoking is allowed, smoking is not allowed but there are exceptions, smoking is never allowed, or there are no rules about smoking in the home. | Baseline, Follow-up (approximately 44 months post-baseline) | 
| Count of Participants With Certain Workplace Policies | Among participants employed in a workplace with an indoor setting, workplace policies at baseline and follow-up were measured by asking, Which of the following best describes the indoor smoking policy where you work? Smoking is allowed anywhere, smoking is allowed only in some indoor areas, smoking is not allowed in any indoor areas, or there is no policy. | Baseline, Follow-up (approximately 44 months post-baseline) | 
| Enforcement of Smoke-Free Policies | Changes in enforcement of smoke-free policies in various settings will be measured by asking, In the past 7 days, how many times have you seen someone using tobacco in a location where it is prohibited? | Baseline, Follow-up (approximately 44 months post-baseline) | 
| Secondhand Smoke Exposure in Various Locations | The frequency of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in the past 30 days will be assessed by asking the respondent to report the number of days they were exposed to SHS in the home, in vehicles, at work, in indoor public places, and in outdoor public places. The frequency of exposures is evaluated as the number of days in the past 30 days the participant was exposed to SHS in the home, in vehicles, at work, in indoor public places, and in outdoor public places | Baseline, Follow-up (approximately 44 months post-baseline) | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Behavioral intervention, Social intervention, Public health, Smoking behavior