Smoking Cessation Intervention in Public Housing

This was a cluster randomized controlled study evaluating the effect of a multi-level
intervention, Sister to Sister, on the smoking cessation in two Southeastern US metropolitan
areas. Fourteen subsidized housing neighborhoods, eight in Charleston, SC and six in Augusta,
GA, were pair matched based on size; with one neighborhood in each pair randomized to the
intervention to ensure balanced recruitment between groups. Neighborhoods ranged in size from
22 to 33 participants with a total sample size of 409 women; neighborhoods were chosen as the
primary sampling unit to prevent contamination of the outcome within neighborhoods, with
women in the neighborhoods as secondary sampling unit. All statistical analyses were
conducted using SAS 9.2 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC) with statistical significance at an alpha
level of 0.05. Comparison between groups at baseline used t-tests for continuous variables
and chi-square tests for categorical variables. The primary outcome of interest was smoking
status which was dichotomized (smoker/non-smoker) at the 6 and 12 month measurements. Smoking
status was determined by cotinine levels in saliva with non-smokers defined as those with
cotinine levels of 14 ng/mL or less.

Inclusion Criteria:

- 18 yrs of age and older,

- female, resident of public housing, daily smoker

Exclusion Criteria:

- pregnant,

- breastfeeding,

- no intentions to quit smoking