Cover Memo_SFTXT_03122013

Date: December 7, 2012

TO: Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Through: Keith Tucker, Reports Clearance Officer, HHS

Seleda Perryman, Program Clearance Officer, NIH

Vivian Horovitch-Kelley, PRA OMB Project Clearance Liaison, NCI

FROM: Erik Augustson, PhD, MPH,

Behavioral Scientist/Health Science Administrator

Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS)

National Cancer Institute (NCI)/NIH

SUBJECT: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) SmokefreeTXT (Text Message) Program Evaluation (NCI)

This is a request for OMB to approve the new submission titled, “The National Cancer Institute (NCI) SmokefreeTXT Program Evaluation” for 3 years. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has requested the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Tobacco Control Research Branch (TCRB) develop and manage the SmokefreeTXT evaluation program, as part of a larger series of eHealth/mHealth tobacco cessation intervention programs.

This evaluation has implications for international work that HHS deems crucial in designing and implementing similar programs in a variety of other countries. In addition, HHS is interested in increasing the visibility of the SmokefreeTXT domestic program as part of the resources it promotes via large scale promotional campaigns. 

This study seeks to assess the efficacy of the SmokefreeTXT program, a text message smoking cessation intervention designed for young adult smokers ages 18 to 29. Study plans include recruiting a large sample of young adult smokers to examine how exposure to the SmokefreeTXT intervention affects participants’ success at quitting smoking. There will be 3-arms to the study; participants will be enrolled for a maximum of 8 weeks of treatment in the SmokefreeTXT program, with frequency and duration of the treatment varying by study arm. The SmokefreeTXT Study will collect self-reported cessation data using the bidirectional aspect of text-messaging service and a series of web-based surveys. All web-based survey data will be collected and stored by a third-party, Research Triangle Institute International (RTI). Respondents will complete the following 5 web-based surveys: 1) Pre-treatment baseline survey; 2) one week post quit date questionnaire; 3) end of active cessation treatment questionnaire; 4) 12-week post-treatment questionnaire; 5) 24-weeks post-treatment questionnaire.