CClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT03962660HaRTS-TRENDSUpdated May 24, 2019

Harm Reduction for Tobacco Smoking With Support of Tobacco-Replacing Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems

An interventional study of HaRTS-TRENDS and Standard Care (SC) in Smoking, Tobacco, sponsored by University of Washington. Status unknown at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 21 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-05-24.

Sponsored by University of Washington · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified May 2019), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
94
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
21 Years to 65 Years
Sex
All
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Study summary

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of HaRTS-TRENDS compared to standard care (i.e., brief advice to quit + referral to state quit line that offers free NRT) in facilitating a biochemically verified nonsmoking and b) reducing smoking-related harm as measured by concentration of urinary tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). Potential underlying mechanisms of changes in the proposed outcomes--including nicotine craving and smoking reduction, respectively--will be tested.

Read the detailed description

The prevalence of smoking and smoking-related illness is disproportionately higher among people experiencing chronic homelessness than among people in the general population. Unfortunately, smoking cessation treatment does not reach or engage the overwhelming majority of smokers experiencing chronic homelessness, and smoking-related harm persists even after people are housed. There have therefore been calls for more flexible and client-centered approaches tailored to this population's needs. In response, we are proposing a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Harm-Reduction for Tobacco Smoking with support of Tobacco-Replacing Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (HaRTS-TRENDS) as an innovative, empirically informed, and client-driven alternative to traditional smoking cessation treatment. To maximize its efficacy, the 4-session, individual HaRTS-TRENDS was collaboratively designed with a community advisory board made up of researchers, people with lived experience of chronic homelessness and smoking, and staff and management at a nonprofit, community-based housing agency. HaRTS-TRENDS entails the provision of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) in conjunction with harm-reduction counseling. Interventionists embody a compassionate, advocacy-oriented "heart-set" or style and deliver manualized components that include a) participant-led tracking of preferred smoking outcomes, b) elicitation of participants' harm-reduction goals and their progress toward achieving them, c) discussion of the relative risks of various nicotine delivery systems, and d) instruction in using ENDS. The proposed study will feature a randomized controlled trial (N=94) of HaRTS-TRENDS among smokers with lived experience of chronic homelessness who have moved into permanent, supportive housing. Participants will be randomized to receive HaRTS-TRENDS or standard care. The standard care, which is what people most commonly receive from providers, is brief advice to quit plus referral to the Washington State quitline where participants have access to free NRT. All participants will be assessed at baseline and posttest as well as at 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups. Analyses will be conducted to test the efficacy of HaRTS-TRENDS compared to SC in a) facilitating biochemically verified nonsmoking and b) reducing smoking-related harm as measured by concentration of urinary tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). It is hypothesized that, compared to SC participants, HaRTS-TRENDS participants will show a significantly greater likelihood of nonsmoking and reduced concentration of TSNAs. Further, we will examine reductions in smoking craving as a mediator of the HaRTS-TRENDS effect on nonsmoking as well as nonsmoking as a mediator of the HaRTS-TRENDS effect on TSNA concentration. If its results are positive, this project will lay the groundwork for longer-term objectives including dissemination of HaRTS-TRENDS to researchers, clinicians, and community-based agencies to decrease smoking-related harm for a high-cost and severely affected population.

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Conditions studied

  • Smoking, Tobacco
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In context

Lead sponsor

University of Washington is the lead sponsor of 1,397 studies on the registry; 225 are open to participants now.

Of its 154 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 132 (86%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
21 Years to 65 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Having a history of chronic homelessness according to the widely accepted federal definition,
  • Being a current DESC client living in one of DESC's participating permanent supportive housing projects,
  • Being between 21-65 years of age,
  • Being a daily smoker (>4 cigarettes/day in the past year with a breath CO ≥ 6 ppm or salivary cotinine test at level 1 if CO \< 6 ppm)
  • Having adequate English language skills to understand verbal information and communicate in the study

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Use of other tobacco products besides cigarettes ≥ 9 days in the past month
  • Refusal or inability to consent to participation in research
  • Constituting a risk to the safety and security of other clients or staff.
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Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
94 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    HaRTS-TRENDS

    See description below.

    Other: HaRTS-TRENDS

  • Active comparator
    Standard Care (SC)

    See description below.

    Other: Standard Care (SC)

Interventions

  • OtherHaRTS-TRENDS

    HaRTS-TRENDS comprises 4, individual sessions delivered in the context of the interventionist's pragmatic harm-reduction mindset paired with a compassionate, advocacy-oriented "heart-set" or style. It comprises the delivery of 4 manualized components, including a) participant-led tracking of preferred smoking outcomes, b) elicitation of participants' harm-reduction goals and their progress toward achieving them, c) discussion of the relative risks of various nicotine delivery systems, and d) instruction in using ENDS. Additionally, HaRTS-TRENDS entails provision of commercially available ENDS.

  • OtherStandard Care (SC)

    The 4-session, individual standard care control condition entails the well-documented and evidence-based 5 As intervention (i.e., Ask about nicotine use, Assess use, Advise to quit smoking, Assist with exploring current smoking/planning smoking cessation, Arrange follow-up). Part of arranging follow-up is the recommendation to call the smoking quit line, which can supply additional counseling and nicotine replacement therapy.

    Also known as: 5 As

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Nonsmoking

    Biologically verified nonsmoking (i.e., self-reported nonsmoking if corresponding CO measure is \< 8) in the past 7 days will serve as a primary outcome as well as a potential mediator of the HaRTS-TRENDS effect on TSNA concentration.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

  2. TSNA Concentration

    This primary outcome entails urinary concentration of a tobacco-specific nitrosamine (i.e., NNK), a key carcinogen in tobacco. Secondarily, TSNA concentration will be used as a longer-term biochemical index of tobacco use.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

Secondary outcomes

  1. smoking intensity

    Self-reported smoking intensity is the mean number of cigarettes participants report smoking per day in the 7 days prior to the assessment.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

  2. smoking frequency

    Self-reported smoking frequency is the number of days participants report smoking in the 7 days prior to the assessment.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

  3. CO level

    Carbon monoxide in exhaled air will be examined secondarily as a continuous measure of reduced smoking-related harm. It will also be used to biochemically verify the 7-day nonsmoking primary outcome.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

  4. cotinine levels

    Urinary cotinine will reflect participants' recent nicotine use.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

  5. FEV1%

    FEV1% is the ratio of predicted lung capacity based on participants' height, age and gender with participants' forced expiratory volume in the first second of expiration as a percentage of the predicted value.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

  6. Clinical COPD questionnaire

    The 10-item Clinical COPD Questionnaire will be used to calculate an overall summary score representing respiratory HR-QoL over 3 domains: respiratory symptoms (e.g., shortness of breath), functional state (e.g., ability to climb stairs), and mental state (i.e., concern about getting a cold or breathing getting worse). The total score is calculated by summing the scores of the individual items and dividing by 10 (the number of individual items) giving a total score between 0 and 6 with higher scores representing worse HRQoL.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

  7. EQ-5D-5L

    This self-report measure yields 5 dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. Additionally, the EuroQoL-Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS) is a single item representing health-related quality of life via participants' general assessments of their current health, where 0 = the worst health imaginable and 100 = the best health imaginable.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

Other outcomes

  1. smoking craving

    Smoking craving is a potential mediator of the proposed intervention effects and will be measured using the Questionnaire for Smoking Urges-Brief (QSU-B) consists of 10 items rated on 7-point Likert scales ranging from 0 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). Changes in smoking craving summary scores will be tested as a mediator of the HaRTS-TRENDS effects on complete switchover.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

  2. side effects of ENDS

    We will assess participants' experience of known, ENDS-related adverse events (i.e., dry mouth, throat irritation, short-ness of breath, headache, cough, tachycardia, nausea) using a 5-item, 5-point Likert-type questionnaire (ranging from 0=none to 5=severe) that was adapted from the Systematic Assessment for Treatment Emergent Effects (SAFTEE) interview.

    Time frame: Change across the 12-month follow-up

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Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • University of Washington - Harborview Medical Center
    Seattle, Washington 98195, United States
    • Susan E Collins, PhD · Contact · collinss@uw.edu · 206-832-7885
    • Susan E Collins, PhD · Principal investigator
    Recruiting
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References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — The proposed research will involve people recruited from prominent Housing First programs serving chronically homeless people who are often multiply affected by psychiatric, medical and substance-use disorders. The proposed sample will be recruited from a highly vulnerable and marginalized population in a tight-knit urban community. Furthermore, the partnering agency is well-known for its housing approach, and regularly conducts tours to help inform other housing providers, policy makers, and other public stakeholders about this model to promote replicability. Thus, even with the removal of all identifiers, we believe that it could become difficult to fully protect the identities of participants and their data (including e-cigarette use and smoking which are not currently allowed in housing). For these reasons, we do not have immediate plans to share the data collected in the context of the proposed study.

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 24, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03962660
Lead sponsor
University of Washington
Collaborators
Downtown Emergency Service Center, Washington State University
Responsible party
Susan Collins (Associate Professor, School of Medicine: Psychiatry, University of Washington) — Principal investigator
First posted
May 24, 2019
Start date
May 9, 2019
Primary completion
Apr 30, 2021 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2021 (estimated)
Last update
May 24, 2019

Study contacts

Tatiana M Ubay
Contact
tatiubay@uw.edu
206-744-9913
Emily Taylor
Contact
emt07@uw.edu
206-744-1873
Susan E Collins, PhD
principal investigator · University of Washington

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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