An interventional study of Reduction (relocation and reduction of personal smoking) and cessation and Resident Endorsement in Smoking, Smoking Cessation and Smoking Reduction, sponsored by Columbia University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-07.
Sponsored by Columbia University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
This project seeks to determine the effectiveness of two types of interventions to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke in residential buildings. One intervention is geared toward all building residents (resident endorsement) and the other targets smokers (smoking reduction via relocation and reduction in personal smoking/cessation) with the goal of reducing personal smoking and secondhand smoke exposure.
Smoke-free housing policies in multi-unit housing are promising and increasingly widespread interventions to reduce smoking and secondhand smoke exposure. Little research has identified factors that improve compliance with smoke-free housing policies in low-income multi-unit housing and test corresponding solutions.
The proposed randomized controlled trial (RCT) addresses key gaps in knowledge and capitalizes on key scientific opportunities by: 1) leveraging the federal mandate to ban smoking in a public housing system of more than sufficient size to conduct an adequately powered RCT; 2) expanding our understanding of smoke-free policy compliance beyond policy implementation by testing two novel treatments: a) in-residence smoking cessation and b) resident endorsement, while 3) addressing population and location-specific tobacco-related disparities.
The investigators hypothesize that the relocation/cessation plus resident endorsement intervention will yield significantly larger reductions in personal smoking and secondhand smoke exposure, compared to standalone interventions and the standard approach.
268 studies on the registry are indexed under Smoking; 136 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 405 is above the median of 120 across 211 interventional studies indexed under Smoking.
Browse Smoking studies →Columbia University is the lead sponsor of 1,103 studies on the registry; 193 are open to participants now.
Of its 172 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 142 (83%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Building Inclusion Criteria:
Building Exclusion Criteria:
Participant Inclusion Criteria:
Participant Exclusion Criteria:
Smokers will be referred by the survey team to peer educators from a community-based organization trained to provide peer to peer health education including tobacco cessation support. The peer educator will coordinate smoking cessation support, including serving as a liaison between participant and research team, providing information regarding the smoke-free policy and opportunities for relocation, and connecting participant to access to tobacco replacement therapy and/or physician support if deemed appropriate.
Behavioral: Reduction (relocation and reduction of personal smoking) and cessation
Buildings assigned will be targeted for a series of 2 in-residence programs that involve community forums and the creative arts to garner resident endorsements of smoke-free living environments. Premised on resident engagement, this arm seeks to impact social and physical dimensions of the residential environment to achieve compliance. The sessions will: 1) inform residents of risks associated with smoking and secondhand smoke; 2) identify reasons to have a smoke-free home, 3) ask residents to sign a pledge on paper and/or virtually; 4) display smoke-free signage on doors and/or social media pages with an original hashtag (#Smokefree\[building address\]); and 5) refer residents to the Smoke-free NYCHA website for information on the policy and existing cessation resources.
Behavioral: Resident Endorsement
The combined intervention will be carried out in the buildings assigned to this RCT arm, which will provide in-residence programs based on the resident endorsement treatment and the smoking relocation/cessation treatment. Both will occur simultaneously with one geared toward all building residents (resident endorsement) and the other targeting smokers (smoking relocation/cessation) with the goal of reducing both personal smoking and secondhand smoke exposure.
Behavioral: Reduction (relocation and reduction of personal smoking) and cessation · Behavioral: Resident Endorsement
Buildings and study participants assigned to this arm will be recruited and followed over a 12-month period to assess outcomes. No additional programs or services will be delivered to the buildings or residents assigned to this arm beyond standard programs that NYCHA may provide to support the smoke-free mandate. Field staff will document any policy-related signage, activities or information to which these participants are exposed.
Individual-level. Peer educator to provide reduction/cessation and/or relocation support.
Building-level. Peer educator to conduct building-level sessions.
Change in number of cigarettes smoked per day
Self-reported average number of cigarettes smoked per day among smokers
Time frame: Measured at baseline (in person interview), 3 months (phone interview) and 12 months (in person interview)
Change in salivary cotinine
Salivary cotinine (saliva collected as passive drool) will be measured for 25% of the sample among smokers and non-smokers alike
Time frame: At baseline and at the 12-month follow-up
Change in secondhand smoke exposure
Self-reported secondhand smoking exposure (hours of secondhand smoke exposure in the building in the past 7 days); among smokers \& non-smokers
Time frame: Measured at baseline (in person interview), 3 months (phone interview) and 12 months (in person interview)
Change in number of participants with successful quit attempts
Binary; whether smokers have successfully quit
Time frame: Measured at baseline (in person interview), 3 months (phone interview) and 12 months (in person interview)
Change in number of quit attempts
Mean number of quitting attempts among smokers
Time frame: Measured at baseline (in person interview), 3 months (phone interview) and 12 months (in person interview)
Change in number of participants with secondhand smoke observations
Binary; whether participant has observed someone smoking indoors in the building; among smokers \& non-smokers
Time frame: Ever observing someone smoking indoors within the past 7 days measured at baseline (in person interview), 3 months (phone interview) and 12 months (in person interview)
Change in number of hours of secondhand smoke exposure
Counted number of hours of exposure
Time frame: Number of hours observed someone smoking indoors within the past 7 days measured at baseline (in person interview), 3 months (phone interview) and 12 months (in person interview)
Change in number of smokers
Counted number of people observed smoking in common areas
Time frame: At each building visit at baseline and 12 months
Change in number of cigarette butts
Counted number of cigarette butts observed in common areas
Time frame: At each building visit at baseline and 12 months
Plan to share: Yes — Data from approximately 512 participants will be released to sponsor (NIH) once the final dataset is analyzed and main findings are accepted for publication to support and validate study findings. This will include participant demographics, data from interviews, and laboratory data from saliva samples. Identifiers might be removed from the identifiable private information or identifiable biospecimens and that, after such removal, the information or biospecimens could be used for future research studies without additional consent from the subject. De-identified participant data may be utilized for the purposes of repeated analyses by other researchers to verify findings, and/or to promote further research with new or alternative hypotheses. The mechanism of distribution will be a data sharing agreement.
This study is completed, as verified in Jan 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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