Use of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) Sample and Brief Smoking Cessation Advice for Recruiting Smokers
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2020-07-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Background More than 60% of the daily smokers in Hong Kong have never tried and have no
intention to quit smoking. About 30.8% of daily smokers attempted to quit but failed.
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is a safe and effective pharmacotherapy to reduce
withdrawal symptoms during early stage of tobacco abstinence and increase quit rate. However,
the prevalence of using NRT in Hong Kong is lower than most of the developed countries. The
proposed project aims to test if providing free NRT sampling to smokers can increase quit
attempt, the use of smoking cessation (SC) services and abstinence.
Methods University undergraduate students will be trained, and will invite smokers at outdoor
smoking hotspots to quit smoking and enroll into SC services. Eligible smokers will be
randomized to experimental or control group according to a cluster randomization, using
recruitment session as the randomization unit. The experimental group will be provided with
1-week free NRT sampling and medication counselling, whereas the control group will be
provided medication counselling. Both groups are advised to enroll in the SC services. The
two primary outcomes include (1) the proportion of smokers who enroll in any SC service in
Hong Kong within 1 month of the recruitment; and (2) the proportion of smokers who report
quit attempts at 1 month follow-up
Discussions The findings will inform the feasibility and effectiveness of delivering free NRT
sampling to increase quit attempt, the use of smoking cessation services and abstinence. It
will yield more information on smokers' adherence to the NRT sampling, side effect and safety
issue of the usage.