Smoking cessation in pregnancy and social networks (SCIPS) V1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Developing social networks to improve smoking cessation outcomes for pregnant women living in disadvantaged areas
IRAS ID
169207
Contact name
Fiona Dobbie
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Stirling
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Smoking rates in pregnancy in the UK remain high and continue to be an important public health issue. Social network interventions can be described as ‘purposeful efforts to use social networks or social network data to generate social influence and/or accelerate behaviour change among individuals, communities, organisations, or populations’. The smoking cessation literature tells us that the attitude and smoking behaviour of partners, family and friends are recognised as important barriers to cessation. However, drawing on social networks to help smoking cessation has mainly centred on the general adult population and remains under researched in pregnancy.
The aim of this development study is, therefore, to design an intervention to help pregnant women stop smoking using support from their social network. An ‘action’ research design is proposed where each phase of the research will inform the next. First, a rapid literature review and stakeholder interviews will be conducted. This will then be followed by consultation with pregnant women and their social networks to co-design the intervention. Lastly, a stakeholder workshop will be held where learning from the previous stages will be shared with key stakeholders, who will then help finalise a logic model which will describe the proposed intervention and how it can be evaluated if pilot funding is secured.
In terms of impact the ‘products’ of this development study have the potential to improve the quit attempts of pregnant women and maintain abstinence post-partum. A secondary impact is to assess the utility of using social networks to facilitate behaviour change in other risk facts associated with cancer (diet, exercise, alcohol).
REC name
South East Scotland REC 01
REC reference
15/SS/0014
Date of REC Opinion
23 Feb 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion