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This research aims to evaluate ways to help Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) youth and adults in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area quit smoking. These methods are designed to address LGBT people’s unique needs. LGBT people smoke at higher rates compared with the general population. In addition, this community already has more health problems, such as high rates of HIV/AIDS, cancer, substance abuse, and is targeted by tobacco companies. Yet, regular tobacco programs are not designed to help them.
This same group completed a one-year Pilot Community-Academic Research Award (Pilot CARA), which has been the only intervention research conducted on this topic. Building on the success of our Pilot CARA, our diverse group of researchers and community advocates will further develop stop smoking methods for LGBT people. These methods will take into account the needs and experiences of diverse LGBT communities in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area. The group is lead by Progressive Research and Training for Action (PRTA) and the University of California, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (UCSF-CAPS). In addition, New Leaf Services for Our Community (New Leaf) (an LGBT service organization in San Francisco) and Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County (SMAAC) (a service organization for LGBT youth of color in the Oakland-East Bay) will also lead the group. We will work with a community-academic coalition (CAC) made up of community-based organizations and activists, health leaders, and researchers. Together, we will design, implement and evaluate three different smoking interventions (education, peer/provider advocacy, and group cessation classes) to be offered at New Leaf and SMAAC. We will use our previous work, the experience and expertise of our collaborative group, and findings from other research to develop these interventions, and will conduct process evaluation and outcome monitoring. The aims of the study are:
1. Broaden and strengthen collaborations among a diverse group of LGBT community members and organizations in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area.
2. Conduct formative work with LGBT communities of color to collaboratively develop LGBT-tailored smoking interventions.
3. Conduct education activities (i.e., outreach and workshops) to assess smoking status, quit history, and stages of change among LGBT individuals, and refer to LGBT-tailored smoking interventions at New Leaf or SMAAC.
4. Conduct a process evaluation (e.g., intervention utilization and satisfaction) of peer/provider advocacy and group cessation classes at New Leaf and SMAAC.
5. Conduct outcome monitoring (e.g., quit status, reduced smoking) of peer/provider advocacy and group cessation classes (at baseline and 3-6-12-month follow-ups).
6. Explore individual factors associated with positive intervention outcomes.
This study is directly relevant to TRDRP’s research priorities and goals. It broadens and strengthens partnerships from our Pilot CARA, builds on the group’s strengths, and focuses on a population that hasn’t been studied and has high risk for smoking and smoking-related problems. The proposed study builds on our pilot CARA by (1) offering group cessation classes into LGBT youth communities of color in the Oakland-East Bay, and (2) expanding the number and type of smoking services available. This work will set the stage for more smoking interventions for LGBT communities in California and elsewhere, and for traditional tobacco control groups. And, we will be more prepared to conduct a randomized community-based clinical trial to compare LGBT versus standard smoking interventions in the future. This is necessary to provide evidence-based smoking interventions for LGBT communities, a need that has been recognized and recommended by the American Legacy Foundation in their LGBT Executive Summary, the National Institutes of Health in their LGBT Program Announcement, and the Healthy People 2010 Companion Document for LGBT Health. |
