Despite high smoking rates among those living in poverty, few cessation studies are conducted in these populations. This cluster-randomized trial tested nicotine gum plus motivational interviewing (MI) for smoking cessation in 20 low-income housing developments (HDs). Intervention participants (10 HDs, n = 66) received educational materials, 8 weeks of 4 mg nicotine gum, and 5 MI sessions on quitting smoking. Comparison participants (10 HDs, n = 107) received 5 MI sessions and educational materials addressing fruit and vegetable consumption. Participants had a mean age of 46.3 years and were predominantly female (70%) and African American (83%). Biochemically-verified 7-day abstinence rates at 8 weeks were 6.1% and 5.6% in the intervention and comparison arms, respectively (p = ns); and at 26 weeks were 7.6% and 9.3%, respectively (p = ns). Results suggest that nicotine gum plus MI were not effective for smoking cessation in low-income housing. Programs are needed to enhance the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy and counseling in underserved populations.
Ahluwalia, J. S., McNagny, S. E., & Clark, W. S. (1998). Smoking cessation among inner-city African Americans using the nicotine transdermal patch. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 13(1), 1-8.
2.
Butler, C. C., Rollnick, S., Cohen, D., Russell, I., Bachmann, M., & Stott, N. (1999). Motivational consulting versus brief advice for smokers in general practice: A randomised trial. British Journal of General Practice, 49, 611-616.
3.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2002). Cigarette smoking among adults—United States, 2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 51(29), 642-645.
4.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2004). Cigarette smoking among adults—United States, 2002. Atlanta, GA: Author.
5.
Cepeda-Benito, A. (1993). Meta-analytical review of the efficacy of nicotine chewing gum in smoking treatment programs. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61(5), 822-830.
6.
Connor, S. E., Cook, R. L., Herbert, M. I., Neal, S. M., & Williams, J. T. (2002). Smoking cessation in a homeless population: There is a will, but is there a way?Journal of General Internal Medicine, 17(5), 369-372.
7.
Donald, A., & Donner, A. (1987). Adjustments to the Mantel-Haenszel chi-square statistic and odds ratio variance estimator when the data are clustered. Statistics in Medicine, 6, 491-499.
8.
Flint, A. J., & Novotny, T. E. (1997). Poverty status and cigarette smoking prevalence and cessation in the United States, 1983-1993: The independent risk of being poor. Tobacco Control, 6, 14-18.
9.
Heather, N., Rollnick, S., Bell, A., & Richmond, R. (1996). Effects of brief counselling among male heavy drinkers identified on general hospital wards. Drug and Alcohol Review, 15(1), 29-38.
10.
Hughes, J., Goldstein, M. G., Hurt, R. D., & Shiffman, S. (1999). Recent advances in the pharmacotherapy of smoking. Journal of the American Medical Association, 281(1), 72-76.
11.
Kottke, T. E., Battista, R. N., DeFriese, G. H., & Brekke, M. L. (1988). Attributes of successful smoking cessation interventions in medical practice—A meta-analysis of 39 controlled trials. Journal of the American Medical Association, 259(19), 2883-2889.
12.
Lam, T. H., Abdullah, A. S., Chan, S. S., & Hedley, A. J. (2004). Adherence to nicotine replacement therapy versus quitting smoking among Chinese smokers: A preliminary investigation. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 1-18; electronic pre-print release.
13.
Law, M., & Tang, J. L. (1995). An analysis of the effectiveness of interventions intended to help people stop smoking. Archives of Internal Medicine, 155, 1933-1941.
14.
Mazas, C. A., & Wetter, D. W. (2003). Smoking cessation interventions among African Americans: Research needs. Cancer Control, 10(5 Suppl.), 87-89.
15.
Miller, W. R. (1996). Motivational interviewing: Research, practice, and puzzles. Addictive Behaviors, 21(6), 835-842.
16.
Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (1991). Motivational interviewing: Preparing people to change addictive behavior. New York: Guilford.
17.
Miller, W. R., Yahne, C. E., & Tonigan, J. S. (2003). Motivational interviewing in drug abuse services: A randomized trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71(4), 754-763.
18.
Resnicow, K., Futterman, R., Weston, R. W., Royce, J., Parms, C., Freeman, H. P., et al. (1996). Smoking prevalence of Harlem residents: Baseline results from the Harlem Health Connection Project. American Journal of Health Promotion, 10(5), 343-346.
19.
Resnicow, K., Jackson, A., Braithwaite, R., DiIorio, C., Blisset, D., Rahotep, S., et al. (2002). Healthy Body/Healthy Spirit: A church-based nutrition and physical activity intervention. Health Education Research, 17(5), 562-573.
20.
Rollnick, S., Mason, P., & Butler, C. (1999). Health behavior change: A guide for practitioners. London: Harcourt Brace.
21.
SAS Institute, Inc. (1999). SAS/STAT user’s guide (Version 8). Cary, NC: Author.
22.
Shiffman, S., Rolf, C. N., Hellebusch, S. J., Gorsline, J., Gorodetzky, C. W., Chiang, Y. K., et al. (2002). Real-world efficacy of prescription and over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapy. Addiction, 97(5), 505-516.
23.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1990). The health benefits of smoking cessation (OSH, DHHS Publication No. (CDC) 90-8416). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
24.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1994). Healthy people 2000 review 1994. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
25.
U.S. Deparment of Health and Human Services. (2000). The tobacco use and dependence clinical practice guideline panel staff and consortium representatives: A clinical practice guideline for treating tobacco use and dependence. Journal of the American Medical Association, 283, 3244-3254.
