Smokers' harm reduction strategies and secondhand smoke in homes.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effect of smokers' harm reduction strategies on levels of secondhand smoke in the home.
IRAS ID
170112
Contact name
Victoria McIntyre
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Liverpool John Moores University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
My study is entitled “The effect of smokers’ harm reduction strategies on the levels of second hand smoke in the home” and aims to evaluate and measure how exposure to tobacco smoke within homes varies according to smoking behaviour and to assess the value of an intervention using in home measurements for smoking cessation and harm reduction. There is much debate on the effectiveness of smokers harm reduction strategies, such as smoking outside or by a window, used by parents to reduce child exposure to second hand smoke, with members of the tobacco control community claiming such strategies are ineffective, yet little research has been done to justify this. How such strategies are decided upon and negotiated within households is also open to further exploration.
This study will address these gaps by measuring pm2.5, a known environmental marker used for measuring air quality and a component of second-hand smoke. Three measurements of pm2.5 will be taken from the kitchen, the living room and a bedroom in the homes of smoking parents who will be recruited from children’s centres and the Fagends cessation service across Merseyside. To do this air particle monitors will take measurements over a week. Personalised data will be generated from these measurements and presented to each household.
This will be followed up by a telephone or face to face survey (depending on the participants preference) to all participants to gather reactions to the personalised data. Participants will also be asked to take part in an interview which will be conducted in a place convenient to the participant and last up to 45minutes. This will provide insight into how households negotiate which harm reduction strategies they employ and if being shown the measurements has played any part in encouraging further smoking cessation or inspiration to quit altogether.
REC name
Wales REC 7
REC reference
16/WA/0061
Date of REC Opinion
11 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion