Clinical trial NCT05430451: Simple Physical Exercise With Instant Messaging Support for Smoking Via "Quit to Win" Contest 2022 (QTW2022)
Official title: Building Capacity and Promoting Smoking Cessation in the Community Via "Quit to Win" Contest 2022: Simple Physical Exercise With Instant Messaging Support for Smoking Cessation
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Smoking Cessation
Keywords: Smoking cessation
Physical exercise
Instant messaging support
mHealth
Lead sponsor: The University of Hong Kong
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health
First posted: 2022-06-24
Enrollment: 1031
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: This project aims to test the effectiveness of an integrated intervention of brief cessation advice (AWARD) and simple physical exercise with Instant Messaging (IM) support compared with control participants among current smokers who joined the contest.

Detailed description: Although smoking prevalence is decreasing in Hong Kong, it accounts for over 7,000 deaths per year and a large amount of medical cost, long-term care, and productivity loss of US$ 688 million (0.6% Hong Kong GDP). Quitting is difficult because nicotine is highly addictive. Long-term habitual tobacco smoking could foster a series of physical and psychological dependence on nicotine, and thus induce cravings and nicotine withdrawal symptoms when remaining abstinent.

In addition to pharmacotherapy and behavioral counseling, exercise has shown promising effects on reducing craving, cigarette consumption, withdrawal symptoms, and increasing intention and attempt to quit. Randomized trials on smoking cessation have shown that vigorous or moderate exercise (including aerobics, brisk walking, and weightlifting) increases tobacco abstinence. However, these exercise-based smoking cessation trials were small-scaled with sample sizes ranging from 20 to 543, and mainly targeted the smokers who were motivated to quit (active treatment seekers). Most (15/20) of the vigorous or moderate exercises adopted in the smoking cessation trials required the participants to attend multiple exercise sessions (at least weekly for 5 months) under supervision or self-monitoring using equipment (e.g., pedometers) with a low proportion (\<50%) of the participants achieved targeted level of attendance and exercise. The effects were short-term (end of treatment) and long-term (6 months or above) effects were uncertain, and cannot be generated in smokers who had low motivation to quit.

Mobile health (mHealth) is now a part of the World Health Organization's (WHO) strategies on combating smoking (http://www.who.int/tobacco/mhealth/en/) and has been used in many countries given its low cost and popular use. Instant messaging (IM) applications (apps) (e.g., WhatsApp, WeChat) are compatible with smartphones and allow sending interactive messages such as text, photos, video, animation, and files. The widespread availability of IM apps allows healthcare professionals to deliver health information and behavioral interventions through messaging. The QTW Contest 2017 using chat-based psychosocial support through IM apps effectively increased short-term (end of treatment, 3 months) and long-term (6 months since intervention initiation) smoking abstinence.

The chat-based IM support has the potential to support the use of other treatment components. The investigators aimed to test (1) the effectiveness of an integrated intervention of brief cessation advice (AWARD), simple physical exercise with Instant Messaging (IM) support compared with control participants among current smokers; (2) to explore participants' experience and perceptions towards the intervention.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Hong Kong residents aged 18 or above
* Smoke at least 1 tobacco stick (includes HTP) per day or use e-cigarette daily in the preceding 3-month
* Able to communicate in Chinese (including reading Chinese in IM)
* Saliva cotinine 30 ng/ml or above
* Intent to quit / reduce smoking
* Able to use the instant messaging tool (e.g., WhatsApp, WeChat) for communication.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Smokers who have communication barriers (either physically or cognitively)
* Smokers who are currently participating in other SC programmes or services

Primary outcomes:
measure: Biochemically validated abstinence
timeFrame: 3-month follow-up
measure: Biochemically validated abstinence
timeFrame: 6-month follow-up
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Physical exercise level
timeFrame: 3-month follow-up
measure: Physical exercise level
timeFrame: 6-month follow-up
measure: Smoking quit rate change from baseline at 3-month follow-up
timeFrame: 3-month follow-up
measure: Smoking quit rate change from baseline at 6-month follow-up
timeFrame: 6-month follow-up
measure: Smoking reduction rate change from baseline at 3-month follow-up
timeFrame: 3-month follow-up
measure: Smoking reduction rate change from baseline at 6-month follow-up
timeFrame: 6-month follow-up
measure: Intervention compliance at the end of treatment at 3 months follow-up
timeFrame: 3-month follow-up
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hong Kong
country: China
facility: Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH)
state: Hong Kong
Study officials:
affiliation: The University of Hong Kong
name: Man Ping Wang, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: