Addressing Tobacco Use in Underserved Communities Through a Peer-Facilitated Smoking Cessation Program

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Community Health
• Tobacco Control

Background:

• The Communities Engaged and Advocating for a Smoke-Free Environment (CEASE) program is a university-community partnership targeting tobacco use reduction in underserved populations.
• The CEASE program has evolved through four phases, incorporating lessons learned to enhance intervention outcomes.
• Phase II focused on refining the community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, varying incentives, settings, and providers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the CBPR approach of the CEASE tobacco cessation program.
• To report the results of Phase II of the CEASE intervention.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of different incentives and peer-led counseling in a community setting.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods study utilizing the Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach.
• Recruitment of 398 smokers into two 12-session group counseling interventions facilitated by trained peers.
• Comparison of two study arms differing in incentive types, with follow-up at 12 weeks.

Main Results:

• A 21% smoking cessation rate was observed at 12-week follow-up.
• The program achieved a 51.9% retention rate (attendance at ≥6 sessions).
• No significant differences in cessation outcomes were found between the two incentive-based study arms; incentives increased participation but not cessation.

Conclusions:

• The CBPR approach, particularly the peer-led model in Phase II, showed improved outcomes compared to clinician-led Phase I.
• Monetary and non-monetary incentives effectively increased program participation but did not significantly impact smoking cessation.
• The CBPR approach enhances the acceptability and effectiveness of cessation services for underserved populations.