Enhancing Smoking Cessation in the Homeless Population

To achieve the study goal, we have selected a 3-group randomized clinical trial (RCT) design that includes 1) Usual Care, 2) Intensive smoking cessation, and 3) Integrated Intensive Smoking and Alcohol Intervention. Due to low enrollment because of the addition of an alcohol use screening criteria, the study was changed to a two arm study and the study time frame changed. The two study conditions are 1) Integrated Intensive Smoking plus Alcohol intervention using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), CBT-(IS+A) and 2) Usual Care (brief smoking cessation and brief alcohol counseling both based on the United States Public Health Service's Guidelines)-(UC). The study length is reduced to 26 weeks from 52 weeks. Having alcohol treatment added to the smoking intervention will enable us assess whether addressing alcohol abuse will result in improved smoking abstinence, an important scientific question that has never been studied in homeless populations.

Study conditions: Both study conditions have identical number of contacts; we considered a design in which the duration of counseling in the UC will be identical to those in the IS+A condition but decided against this because it will create a usual care condition that exceeds standard practice for brief interventions. We understand that testing hypothesis 3 confounds contact time with treatment content, and hence we will not be able to determine that observed differences in outcome are due to specific treatment components. However, given the current state of knowledge about treating homeless alcohol abusing smokers, we believe it is sufficient to show that our intervention led to improved outcome in this group without knowing if the finding is due to specific intervention content. Subsequent research will be needed to disentangle various intervention components.

All participants will receive 12-week treatment with nicotine patch plus nicotine gum/lozenge. Counseling will include weekly individual sessions for 3 months followed by study data collection visits for 3 months. Each participant will be randomly assigned to a condition, which will dictate their treatment. Each participant will be asked to engage in the therapy assigned to their condition, and work to quit smoking and consuming alcohol over a period of one year.

Inclusion criteria

• Currently Homeless
• Smoked at least 100 cigarettes in lifetime
• AUDIT score of > or equal to 5, < or equal to 26
• Aged 18 years or older
• Willing to attend study sessions and follow other study protocol

Exclusion criteria

• Use of smoking cessation medications or interventions in last 30 days
• Unstable medical illness that requires immediate medical care
• AUDIT score of < 5 or > 26
• Pregnancy or other Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) contraindications
• Current history or in past 6 months of psychotic disorder or major depressive disorders that is not stable on treatment for past 3 months
• Cognitive impairment