LSHTM study into stop smoking services & e-cigarettes (v1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding influences on the attendance of ‘dual users’ of tobacco and e-cigarettes at NHS stop smoking services
IRAS ID
223311
Contact name
Gregory J Hartwell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
E-cigarettes have been embraced by increasing numbers of smokers in recent years as a safer alternative to tobacco and an attractive route to quitting smoking. Over the same period, attendance at NHS stop smoking services has fallen rapidly. Previous studies have shown these services to be the most effective route of all for quitting and to be particularly skilled at targeting the most disadvantaged smokers.
This PhD will therefore examine the unanswered question of what influences the attendance of ‘dual users’ of tobacco and e-cigarettes at NHS stop smoking services. Uptake of these services may be affected by psychosocial barriers amongst smokers, but may also reflect variable policies towards e-cigarettes adopted by local services.
This IRAS application relates solely to the PhD’s qualitative workstream. The PhD has a separate quantitative study, based on UCL’s Smoking Toolkit survey, which does not involve NHS sites, data, staff or patients. Findings from the Toolkit study will inform the design of questions for the qualitative interviews but, in all other respects, the quantitative work is separate and already has all necessary ethical approvals (LSHTM REC reference 11672, UCL REC reference 0498/001).
The qualitative research involves semi-structured interviews with stop smoking service users (and other local smokers) from three sites - Leicester, Lewisham and Northumberland - as well as service staff and stakeholders. Each participant will take part in a single interview with the lead researcher for approximately 30-45minutes.
This study will lead to a PhD thesis, including recommendations - targeted at service managers and local authority commissioners - on how services could be successfully attracting higher numbers of smokers. To help address inequalities, this will include the most effective approaches for attracting smokers from different sociodemographic groups.
The research is fully funded by an NIHR Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowship.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0414
Date of REC Opinion
29 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion