Promoting smoking cessation in Bangladeshi and Pakistani smokers - trial of trained community outreach workers
Rachna Begh, Research Associate, Primary Care Clinical Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK

Abstract
Smoking prevalence is particularly high amongst Bangladeshi and Pakistani men in the UK. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of Pakistani and Bangladeshi smoking cessation workers operating in an outreach capacity compared with standard care to improve access to and success of NHS smoking cessation services.

Methods: Pilot cluster randomised controlled trial in Birmingham. Geographical super output areas were used to identify natural communities where more than 10% of the population were of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin. 16 agglomerations of super output areas were randomised to ‘clinic only’ (control) vs. ‘clinic + outreach’ (intervention).

Results: A small increase was found in the number of smokers treated per area in the intervention period compared with the same period in the previous year in the intervention areas (mean=6.3, SD=7.7), and a decrease in the control areas (mean=-2.0, SD=5.8;t (14)=2.3, p=0.03). A small increase was found in the number of 4-week quitters (intervention areas mean=3.9, SD=5.6, control areas mean=1.9, SD=2.9;t (14)=0.9, p=0.38). Analysis with generalised linear mixed models gave a zero estimate for between cluster variation. The ratio of numbers treated (intervention: control) was 1.28 (95% CI: 1.03–1.59) and for quitters was 1.14(0.82–1.58).

Conclusions: The effects were modest and we will present findings from qualitative work to shed light on this.

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About the presenter
Rachna Begh is a Research Associate and member of the Smoking Research Group at the University of Birmingham.