Clinical trial NCT01311115: Using Group Commitment for Smoking Cessation
Official title: Using Group Commitment for Smoking Cessation
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Smoking
Lead sponsor: University of California, Berkeley
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
name: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
name: Srinakharinwirot University
First posted: 2011-03-09
Enrollment: 201
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 20
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: This study proposes a novel behavioral intervention to help smokers in Thailand to achieve their goals of quitting. Smoking treatment programs are rare throughout most of Asia and unlikely to meet the impending demand for quitting that tobacco control regulations is stimulating. New approaches are needed.

The present study is a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of a novel, scalable approach to smoking cessation that is targeted toward rural Southeast Asian communities. Thailand is used as a test case to explore if pairs of smokers quit successfully after making financially-backed commitments and receiving cash incentives to quit. The control group receives education and counseling about quitting. In addition to education and counseling about quitting, the intervention includes two key components:

1. Each participant is encouraged to deposit his "cigarette money" on a weekly basis, to be returned only if the smoker quits successfully within three months. Such commitment contracts, based on theory from behavioral economics, are designed to help a person to maintain self-control and motivation in the face of temptation.
2. Each participant is paired with another study participant. If both quit, each receives a cash bonus. The joint incentives are designed to lead partners to support each other throughout the quit attempt.

Thus, group commitment contracts marshal a robust blend of elements: financial commitment, social support, peer pressure, and monetary rewards. A larger, follow-up evaluation will clarify the relative importance of each of these elements.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Current smoker of at least 10 cigarettes per week and at least 100 cigarettes over the course of a lifetime
* Residents of the study area in Nakhon Nayok province, which includes the six subdistricts of Klong Yai, Chumpon, Bueng San, Pak Phli, Khao Phoem, or Ongkharak

Exclusion Criteria:

* Pregnant
* Plans to leave the study area within the next 12 months

Primary outcomes:
measure: Smoking Status at 6 Months
timeFrame: 6 months after enrollment
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Concordance of Smoking Status Between Partners at 6 Months
timeFrame: 6 months after enrollment
measure: Smoking Status at 3 Months
timeFrame: 3 months after enrollment
measure: Concordance of Smoking Status Between Partners at 3 Months
timeFrame: 3 months after enrollment
measure: Smoking Status at 14 Months
timeFrame: 14 months after enrollment
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Ongkharak
country: Thailand
facility: Srinakharinwirot University
state: Nakhon Nayok
Study officials:
affiliation: University of California at Berkeley
name: Justin S White, MA, MSPH
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
affiliation: University of California at Berkeley
name: William H Dow, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Srinakharinwirot University
name: Suthat Rungruanghiranya, MD
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References:
citation: White JS, Dow WH, Rungruanghiranya S. Commitment contracts and team incentives: a randomized controlled trial for smoking cessation in Thailand. Am J Prev Med. 2013 Nov;45(5):533-42. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2013.06.020.