The University of Stirling is currently carrying out a pilot randomised control trial looking at making free nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) available to parents and carers who want to create a smoke-free home.
Participants are put into one of two groups (study group A or control group B), both groups had air quality monitors installed in their homes at week 0 and week 13 of the study. These monitors helped us measure levels of second-hand tobacco smoke and identify changes in smoking in the home. In some homes we also collected a saliva sample from the child to measure how much nicotine they had inhaled in recent days. Those in Group A received free NRT posted to their homes and fortnightly support calls during weeks 1-12.
As part of this study we conducted a process evaluation, this involved ringing participants at week 6 and asking a series of simple questions about the process. At week 13 some participants also took part in a qualitative interview. 18 participants took part in the 6-week call (14 from Group A, 4 from Group B), and 11 took part in the qualitative interview (8 from Group A, 3 from Group B).
At week 6 all Group A participants reported that receiving their chosen NRT product by post was Convenient or Very Convenient, and that the support calls were Helpful or Very Helpful. All participants were Comfortable or Very Comfortable having the air quality monitor in their homes with many saying they were able to ignore its presence when it was in their home. Of those whose children were eligible to have a saliva sample taken, most were Comfortable taking the sample, one however found it Very Uncomfortable. All participants found signing up to the study Easy or Very Easy with all participants getting an initial phone call from one of the study team within a week of expressing interest, most heard back within three days.
We are still reviewing the analysis of the air quality monitor results and qualitative interviews to see whether posting NRT products can help people create smoke-free homes. But these early findings from the process evaluation show that the methods have been well received.
