Relapse Prevention Through Social Networking Groups

NCT02007369 | Completed Results DMC

• 1 other identifier: TWRP2013
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 136
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

According to the Census \& Statistics Department, there are still 659,300 daily smokers (11.1%) in Hong Kong. Smoking is addictive, and it is difficult for some motivated smokers to quit without assistance. About 33.2% daily smokers in Hong Kong had tried quitting but they could not maintain abstinence. Relapse prevention is aimed at providing interventions to prevent relapse after starting the abstinence status. This pilot single-blind randomized controlled trial (proof of concept study) will test the effectiveness of social networking services for relapse prevention. The study will first recruit 6 quitters and 6 relapsers for a qualitative interview for the design of intervention. Then, the pilot-RCT trial will recruit 120 participants who have recently quitted smoking, and they will be randomly allocated to 2 intervention groups and one control group. The 2 intervention groups will be arranged to join a WhatsApp or Facebook group for receiving quitting advices from the group moderators and sharing quitting experience with other participants. All participants will receive a self-help booklet of relapse prevention, and will be followed up at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. The primary outcome is the self-report relapse rate (Relapse is tentatively defined as smoking 5 cigarettes in 3 consecutive days since joining the RCT among the 3 study arms.

Conditions

Smoking

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Self Reported Relapse Rate at 2 Months

  Relapse is defined as smoking 5 cigarettes in 3 consecutive days since the most recent quitting. A questionnaire asking smoking status, quitting experience and difficulty in quitting was designed to assess the self reported relapse rate at 2 months.

  2 months after joining the groups for the social networking services.

• Self Reported Relapse Rate at 6 Months

  Relapse is defined as smoking 5 cigarettes in 3 consecutive days since the most recent quitting. A questionnaire asking smoking status, quitting experience and difficulty in quitting was designed to assess the self reported relapse rate at 6 months.

  6-months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Point Prevalence of Self Reported Abstinence for the Previous 7 Days at 2 Months

  2 months

• Point Prevalence of Self Reported Abstinence for the Previous 7 Days at 6 Months

  6 months

Study Arms (3)

WhatsApp

EXPERIMENTAL

Provide peer support and deliver relapse prevention messages through WhatsApp for 8 weeks and telephone follow ups

Behavioral: WhatsApp

Facebook

EXPERIMENTAL

Provide peer support and deliver relapse prevention messages through Facebook for 8 weeks and telephone follow ups

Behavioral: Facebook

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Telephone follow ups and received a self-help book only

Interventions

WhatsApp BEHAVIORAL

Intervention arm with relapse prevention intervention in the social group via the social networking service WhatsApp and the duration of the intervention will be 8 weeks.

WhatsApp

Facebook BEHAVIORAL

Another intervention arm with the same intervention content, but the platform for the participants to share and receive quitting advice is Facebook and the duration of the intervention will be 8 weeks.

Facebook

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Smoked at least 1 cigarette a day when first joined ICSC
• Aged 18 or above at the baseline of the RCT
• Clients who have received 3 to 5 smoking cessation counseling provided by ICSC
• Reported tobacco abstinence in the past 7 days at the 8-week follow-up since receiving treatment from ICSC
• Able to communicate in Cantonese and read Chinese
• Have a local network mobile phone with mobile internet access

You may not qualify if:

• Those with unstable physical or psychological conditions as advised by the doctor or counselor in charge
• Smokers with diagnosed alcohol dependence by clinicians or the score of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is 8 or higher

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The University of Hong Kong: lead
• Tung Wah Hospital: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Integrated Centres on Smoking Cessation (ICSC), Tung Wah Groups of Hospital (TWGH)

Hong Kong, China

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Cheung YT, Chan CH, Lai CK, Chan WF, Wang MP, Li HC, Chan SS, Lam TH. Using WhatsApp and Facebook Online Social Groups for Smoking Relapse Prevention for Recent Quitters: A Pilot Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2015 Oct 22;17(10):e238. doi: 10.2196/jmir.4829.

  PMID: 26494159 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Smoking

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Limitations and Caveats

Most subjects had already quit for a few weeks before joining the RCT, so the present RCT did not examine if the intervention helped subjects manage smoking urges at the early stage of quitting. Also, the pilot RCT had small sample size.

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Dr. Cheung, Yee Tak Derek
• Organization: School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong

derekcheung@hku.hk

+852 39176652

Study Officials

• Tai Hing Lam, MD

  The University of Hong Kong

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 28, 2013
• First Posted: December 10, 2013
• Study Start: January 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: September 1, 2014
• Study Completion: February 1, 2015
• Last Updated: January 4, 2017
• Results First Posted: November 11, 2016

Record last verified: 2016-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CN (1)