NCT01591187

The Feasibility of Text Messaging to Assess Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among Youngsters With Cancer or Sickle Cell Disease

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 77 (actual)
• Sponsor: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 10 Years – 17 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Exposure to secondhand smoke is a leading preventable cause of child morbidity and mortality, and the adverse health consequences of secondhand smoke are magnified among youngsters with cancer and sickle cell disease. Current methods for measuring secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe) rely on retrospective reports over extended time periods that are subject to recall errors and systematic inaccuracies in reporting and often do not include the youngster as the primary informant. These methods may underestimate the extent of cumulative SHSe and are not well suited to capturing exposure over time and across settings where young people frequent. More appealing methods that engage youngsters to better monitor tobacco smoke in their environment are warranted. The study will examine the feasibility of cell phone texting to obtain measures of secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe) in children treated for cancer or sickle cell disease (SCD).

Detailed description

Children participating on this study will be asked to report on the smoking that takes place in their presence for a period of 7 days by responding to daily texted messages sent by the research team to their mobile phones. Rates of participation on the study, compliance with reporting SHSe, and feedback about the technical viability and satisfaction with the texting methods will be obtained. Parents will also be asked to report on the child's SHSe during the same 7-day period so that child and parent reports can be compared. In addition to quantitative child and parent reports of SHSe, child and parent questionnaire data about attitudes, behavioral practices to control SHSe, and other socio-environmental factors will be obtained. Individual interviews with youngsters will provide additional qualitative information about the social context and conditions in the child's environment that maintain or contribute to avoidance of exposure. This information will be collectively used to develop a larger trial that will test a behavioral intervention to reduce SHSe among youngsters with cancer and SCD and require them to monitor their SHSe using text messaging. Measuring SHSe in these vulnerable populations and intervening to reduce their SHSe is critical to protecting their current and long-term health. As participation rates and compliance may differ among youngsters diagnosed with cancer and sickle cell disease, participants will be stratified by disease group (up to 55 with cancer and up to 55 with SCD).

Conditions

• Cancer
• Sickle Cell Disease

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Text messaging	Participants report on the smoking that takes place in their presence for a period of 7 days by responding to daily texted messages sent by the research team to their mobile phones. Parents will also be asked to report on the child's SHSe during the same 7-day period so that child and parent reports can be compared.
OTHER	Questionnaire	Child and parent questionnaire data about attitudes, behavioral practices to control SHSe, and other socio-environmental factors will be obtained.
OTHER	Interviews	Individual interviews with youngsters will provide additional qualitative information about the social context and conditions in the child's environment that maintain or contribute to avoidance of exposure.

Timeline

• Start date: 2012-05-01
• Primary completion: 2014-06-01
• Completion: 2014-11-01
• First posted: 2012-05-03
• Last updated: 2015-03-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States