Grant Number:	5R21CA091987-02 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Beech, Bettina
Organization:	University Of Memphis
Project Title:	Smoking Cessation in African-American Men: a Pilot Study
Fiscal Year:	2004

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our long-range goal is to improve the heath status of low-income African American men through a focus on behaviorally modifiable risk factors. The objective of this proposal is to develop and test the feasibility of a smoking cessation intervention specifically designed for African American men. The rationale for the proposed research is that development of an easily accessible, minimal contact intervention strategy culturally tailored for low-income African American men will increase quit-rates in this population, with subsequent reduction in the incidence of smoking-related diseases, such as lung cancer. We are will positioned to undertake the proposed research because we have assembled a multidisciplinary team with the scope and breadth of expertise in the areas of public health, health psychology, smoking cessation, African American culture, research design and biostatistics. We also work in a research environment what is well suited for this study because of our experience in smoking research and our work with low-income populations, and minority groups. Specifically, accrual and follow-up of low-income African American male smokers will be facilitated by our long-term relationship with the Memphis City schools (the 20 th largest metropolitan school system nationally that employs approximately 4,000 African American men in trade positions) and by our relationship with the CEO at Memphis Light Gas and Water (the largest publicly owned utility in the country that employs approximately 1,500 African American men in trade positions), Once we complete the work proposed in the R21 application, we expect to be well-positioned to develop and submit an R01 application to propose a group randomized trial (GRT) to evaluate the intervention. With this in mind, the specific aims for this R21 are to: (1) Conduct four focus groups (total n=32) to assess the content and acceptability of proposed intervention materials.(2) Develop and pilot-test for feasibility a culturally relevant and gender appropriate smoking cessation program for low-income African American men, based on the literature and the results from Aim 1. (3) Develop materials and protocols to be used to evaluate the smoking cessation program. (4) Use the materials developed in Aim 3 to survey the target population to estimate parameters required to size a group-randomized trial for the efficacy evaluation of the smoking cessation program tested for feasibility in Aim 2.





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