Integrating a brief alcohol intervention with tobacco addiction treatment in primary care: qualitative study of health care practitioner perceptions

Abstract Background Randomized trials of complex interventions are increasingly including qualitative components to further understand factors that contribute to their success. In this paper, we explore the experiences of health care practitioners in a province wide smoking cessation program (the Smoking Treatment for Ontario Patients program) who participated in the COMBAT trial. This trial examined if the addition of an electronic prompt embedded in a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS)—designed to prompt practitioners to Screen, provide a Brief intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) to patients who drank alcohol above the amounts recommended by the Canadian Cancer Society guidelines—influenced the proportion of practitioners delivering a brief intervention to their eligible patients. We wanted to understand the factors influencing implementation and acceptability of delivering a brief alcohol intervention for treatment-seeking smokers for health care providers who had access to the CDSS (intervention arm) and those who did not (control arm). Methods Twenty-three health care practitioners were selected for a qualitative interview using stratified purposeful sampling (12 from the control arm and 11 from the intervention arm). Interviews were 45 to 90 min in length and conducted by phone using an interview guide that was informed by the National Implementation Research Network’s Hexagon tool. Interview recordings were transcribed and coded iteratively between three researchers to achieve consensus on emerging themes. The preliminary coding structure was developed using the National Implementation Research Network’s Hexagon Tool framework and data was analyzed using the framework analysis approach. Results Seventy eight percent (18/23) of the health care practitioners interviewed recognized the need to simultaneously address alcohol and tobacco use. Seventy four percent (17/23), were knowledgeable about the evidence of health risks associated with dual alcohol and tobacco use but 57% (13/23) expressed concerns with using the Canadian Cancer Society guidelines to screen for alcohol use. Practitioners acknowledged the value of adding a validated screening tool to the STOP program’s baseline questionnaire (19/23); however, following through with a brief intervention and referral to treatment proved challenging due to lack of training, limited time, and fear of stigmatizing patients. Practitioners in the intervention arm (5/11; 45%) might not follow the recommendations from CDSS if these recommendations are not perceived as beneficial to the patients. Conclusions The results of the study show that practitioners’ beliefs were reflective of the current social norms around alcohol use and this influenced their decision to offer a brief alcohol intervention. Future interventions need to emphasize both organizational and sociocultural factors as part of the design. The results of this study point to the need to change social norms regarding alcohol in order to effectively implement interventions that target both alcohol and tobacco use in primary care clinics. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03108144. Retrospectively registered 11 April 2017, https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT0310814

Identifying contexts and mechanisms in multiple behavior change interventions affecting smoking cessation success: a rapid realist review

Abstract Background Smoking continues to be a leading cause of preventable chronic disease-related morbidity and mortality, excess healthcare expenditure, and lost work productivity. Tobacco users are disproportionately more likely to be engaging in other modifiable risk behaviours such as excess alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and poor diet. While hundreds of interventions addressing the clustering of smoking and other modifiable risk behaviours have been conducted worldwide, there is insufficient information available about the context and mechanisms in these interventions that promote successful smoking cessation. The aim of this rapid realist review was to identify possible contexts and mechanisms used in multiple health behaviour change interventions (targeting tobacco and two or more additional risk behaviours) that are associated with improving smoking cessation outcome. Methods This realist review method incorporated the following steps: (1) clarifying the scope, (2) searching for relevant evidence, (3) relevance confirmation, data extraction, and quality assessment, (4) data analysis and synthesis. Results Of the 20,423 articles screened, 138 articles were included in this realist review. Following Michie et al.’s behavior change model (the COM-B model), capability, opportunity, and motivation were used to identify the mechanisms of behaviour change. Universally, increasing opportunities (i.e. factors that lie outside the individual that prompt the behaviour or make it possible) for participants to engage in healthy behaviours was associated with smoking cessation success. However, increasing participant’s capability or motivation to make a behaviour change was only successful within certain contexts. Conclusion In order to address multiple health behaviours and assist individuals in quitting smoking, public health promotion interventions need to shift away from ‘individualistic epidemiology’ and invest resources into modifying factors that are external from the individual (i.e. creating a supportive environment). Trial registration PROSPERO registration number: CRD4201706443

The Impact of a Clinical Decision Support System for Addressing Physical Activity and Healthy Eating During Smoking Cessation Treatment: Hybrid Type I Randomized Controlled Trial

BackgroundPeople who smoke have other risk factors for chronic diseases, such as low levels of physical activity and poor diet. Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) might help health care practitioners integrate interventions for diet and physical activity into their smoking cessation programming but could worsen quit rates. ObjectiveThe aims of this study are to assess the effects of the addition of a CDSS for physical activity and diet on smoking cessation outcomes and to assess the implementation of the study. MethodsWe conducted a pragmatic hybrid type I effectiveness-implementation trial with 232 team-based primary care practices in Ontario, Canada, from November 2019 to May 2021. We used a 2-arm randomized controlled trial comparing a CDSS addressing physical activity and diet to treatment as usual and used the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance framework to measure implementation outcomes. The primary outcome was self-reported 7-day tobacco abstinence at 6 months. ResultsWe enrolled 5331 participants in the study. Of these, 2732 (51.2%) were randomized to the intervention group and 2599 (48.8%) to the control group. At the 6-month follow-up, 29.7% (634/2137) of respondents in the intervention arm and 27.3% (552/2020) in the control arm reported abstinence from tobacco. After multiple imputation, the absolute group difference was 2.1% (95% CI −0.5 to 4.6; F1,1000.42=2.43; P=.12). Mean exercise minutes changed from 32 (SD 44.7) to 110 (SD 196.1) in the intervention arm and from 32 (SD 45.1) to 113 (SD 195.1) in the control arm (group effect: B=−3.7 minutes; 95% CI −17.8 to 10.4; P=.61). Servings of fruit and vegetables changed from 2.64 servings to 2.42 servings in the intervention group and from 2.52 servings to 2.45 servings in the control group (incidence rate ratio for intervention group=0.98; 95% CI 0.93-1.02; P=.35). ConclusionsA CDSS for physical activity and diet may be added to a smoking cessation program without affecting the outcomes. Further research is needed to improve the impact of integrated health promotion interventions in primary care smoking cessation programs. Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04223336 https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04223336 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)RR2-10.2196/1915

The effects of interventions targeting multiple health behaviors on smoking cessation outcomes: a rapid realist review protocol

Abstract Background Health behaviors directly impact the health of individuals, and populations. Since individuals tend to engage in multiple unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, excessive alcohol use, physical inactivity, and eating an unhealthy diet simultaneously, many large community-based interventions have been implemented to reduce the burden of disease through the modification of multiple health behaviors. Smoking cessation can be particularly challenging as the odds of becoming dependent on nicotine increase with every unhealthy behavior a smoker exhibits. This paper presents a protocol for a rapid realist review which aims to identify factors associated with effectively changing tobacco use and target two or more additional unhealthy behaviors. Methods An electronic literature search will be conducted using the following bibliographic databases: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), The Cochrane Library, Social Science Abstracts, Social Work Abstracts, and Web of Science. Two reviewers will screen titles and abstracts for relevant research, and the selected full papers will be used to extract data and assess the quality of evidence. Throughout this process, the rapid realist approach proposed by Saul et al., 2013 will be used to refine our initial program theory and identify contextual factors and mechanisms that are associated with successful multiple health behavior change. Discussion This review will provide evidence-based research on the context and mechanisms that may drive the success or failure of interventions designed to support multiple health behavior change. This information will be used to guide curriculum and program development for a government funded project on improving smoking cessation by addressing multiple health behaviors in people in Canada. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD4201706443

Additional file 3: of The effects of interventions targeting multiple health behaviors on smoking cessation outcomes: a rapid realist review protocol

Appendix 3 - Quality Assessment and Data Extraction Form. (DOCX 46 kb

Additional file 1: of The effects of interventions targeting multiple health behaviors on smoking cessation outcomes: a rapid realist review protocol

Appendix 1- Search Strategy. (DOC 31 kb

Additional file 5: of The effects of interventions targeting multiple health behaviors on smoking cessation outcomes: a rapid realist review protocol

PRISMA-P 2015 Checklist. (DOCX 37 kb