Assessment of a Teachable Moment for Smoking Cessation
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2012-02-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
A teachable moment (TM) refers to life events or transitions, such as physician visits, early
detection screening feedback, pregnancy, and hospitalization for, and diagnosis of, disease,
that inspire health behavior change. Despite strong intuitive appeal of the TM concept and
over 150 studies of interventions implemented in a TM, there has been little investigation of
the influence of TMs for smoking, particularly for promoting smoking cessation among those
indirectly affected by a TM (e.g., relatives of cancer patients). This prospective
observational study using a matched-group design will assess whether a lung cancer diagnosis
increases enrollment in a smoking cessation program and cessation, and reduces smoking, among
the patient's relatives/spouse who smoke. We will compare enrollment in a cessation program
and cessation and smoking rates in 2 groups of smokers: 1) relatives/spouses of
newly-diagnosed lung cancer patients, and 2) relatives/spouses of patients with an orthopedic
condition. We will also explore mediators and moderators of a lung cancer diagnosis as a TM.
This study could clarify the TM concept for smoking cessation, shed light on the underlying
mechanisms of TMs, and guide future development and implementation of TM-based smoking
cessation interventions.