Indiana University School of Medicine researchers are teaming up with collaborators at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Arizona, the University of Kansas and the Virginia Commonwealth University to determine which treatments work best to empower Black people to quit smoking. The research project is funded with a $10 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to UW.
"One of our enterprise goals between the IU School of Medicine and IU Health is to improve the health of patients and community members across Indiana, with a focus on improving key metrics that matter most to our patients and community," said Kola Okuyemi, MD, MPH, a co-investigator on the study and the associate dean for health equity research and implementation and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the IU School of Medicine. "This research project aligns with our commitment to one such vital metric: tobacco cessation — an essential step towards building healthier lives statewide."
This study will examine the effects of three treatment packages for Black adults who want to quit smoking as part of a five-state study in Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Virginia and Wisconsin. The 1,500 participants will be randomized to one of the three treatment packages: Standard, intensive or intensive incentivized intervention:
- The standard intervention will provide four counseling sessions and two weeks of nicotine patches, similar to a typical state-run quitline.
- The intensive intervention will provide eight weeks of nicotine patches, eight culturally specific counseling sessions (participants can choose whether to have in-person group counseling or individual phone counseling), and access to the Pathways to Freedom video, a video designed to help Black adults quit smoking available on the study website.
- The intensive incentivized intervention will be the same as the intensive intervention and will also provide up to $50 in incentives for participants to attend counseling sessions.
These three treatment packages were selected because the individual components have been shown to be effective among Black adults trying to quit smoking and because the study’s community advisory board, with feedback from focus groups of Black adults who smoke, deemed them to be acceptable and feasible.
The goal of this research is to determine whether the culturally specific interventions being tested in this study will increase quit rates relative to the standard evidence-based intervention. Importantly, these treatments will not be provided in clinical settings but in the participants' everyday lives and settings. The study will also investigate the best ways to engage Black adults in these low-barrier treatments.
Specifically, each study team will recruit participants from five metropolitan areas with elevated smoking rates among Black residents (Indianapolis, Indiana – 17.2%; Kansas City, Kansas – 18.9%; Milwaukee, Wisconsin – 20.2%; Phoenix, Arizona – 11.8%; and Richmond, Virginia – 11.5%).
"This research project is further supported by the Division of Tobacco Prevention and Cessation at the Indiana Department of Health, as we work together to address a critical health issue," Okuyemi said. "In 2022, more than 1 in 6 Black adults in Indiana reported smoking cigarettes. Our project aims to provide targeted support for Black Hoosiers on their journey to tobacco cessation, empowering individuals to take control of their health, eliminating the disease and reducing the economic burden and exposure to tobacco products."
This study was selected through PCORI’s highly competitive review process in which patients, caregivers and other stakeholders join scientists to evaluate proposals. Pragmatic clinical studies such as this test a treatment’s effectiveness in "real-world" clinical situations such as standard hospitals and outpatient clinics, and can include a wider range of study participants, making their findings more generally applicable.
This award has been approved pending completion of PCORI’s business and programmatic review and issuance of a formal award contract.
Funding to build our core community partnerships was provided by the UW School of Medicine and Public Health from the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP 5129) through a grant to the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. ICTR also receives funding from NIH-NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) UL1TR002373.
PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress with a mission to fund patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research that provides patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information they need to make better-informed health and health care decisions.