We Can Quit2: A cluster randomised pilot trial of a community-based smoking cessation intervention for women in disadvantaged areas of Ireland

Smoking rates remain high in Ireland despite considerable progress being made to reduce them in recent years. Ireland ranks second highest for smoking-related causes of death in the EU. Lung cancer, which is strongly linked to smoking, is now the most common cause of death for women in Ireland particularly those living in more disadvantaged areas. Due to this, the Irish Cancer Society developed a new stop smoking programme for women in 2012 called 'We Can Quit' (WCQ) which was established following a review of the literature conducted by members of our research team. We also undertook a small study to look at initial outcomes from WCQ when it was first set up. There is now a need to conduct a bigger study to research this programme.  This current research proposal is for a pilot of 'We Can Quit 2' (WCQ2).

We propose to conduct a randomised controlled trial comparing WCQ2 with existing stop smoking services ‘usual care'in Ireland. Four areas will offer WCQ2 and four usual care with 194 women participating. Follow up for the study will be at 12 weeks at the end of the programme and then at 6 months to look at longer-term outcomes. The study will be organised into four work packages (WPs); the pilot trial (WP1), a process evaluation (WP2), an economic study to look at costs (WP3) and a final WP to look at recruitment and dissemination (looking at how the results can be used). The study is designed to inform future research, in particular a future larger trial.

Award Date

24 February 2017

Award Value

€540744

Principal Investigator

Professor Catherine Hayes

Host Institution

Trinity College Dublin

Scheme

DIFA 2017