Text messages plus clinician support to help pregnant women quit smoking

Testing a Clinician and Patient Intervention to Promote smoking Cessation Among Pregnant Women

NIH-funded research Duke University · NIH-11211222

Combining supportive text messages with extra counseling from prenatal clinicians to help pregnant women stop smoking.

Quick facts

Grant typeR01 grant
Study typeNIH-funded research
Funding institutionDuke University NIH-funded
Lab location1 site (Durham, United States)
Project IDNIH-11211222 on NIH RePORTER

What this research studies

If you are pregnant and smoke, this project pairs a previously tested SMS texting program that helped about 10% of participants quit with a clinician communication training program. The clinician program uses audio clips from real visits and personalized feedback to teach obstetric clinicians to use the full 5 A's (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange). Pregnant patients at participating prenatal clinics will be enrolled and randomized to receive texting alone or texting plus care from trained clinicians. The team will compare smoking quit rates during pregnancy between the groups.

Who could benefit from this research

Good fit: Pregnant women who currently smoke, are receiving prenatal care at participating clinics, and can receive SMS messages are the ideal candidates.

Not a fit: People who do not smoke, who cannot receive text messages, who are not receiving care at participating clinics, or who decline counseling are unlikely to benefit from this project.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, combining texts with better clinician counseling could help more pregnant women quit smoking and improve health for mothers and babies.

How similar studies have performed: An earlier SMS program from this team produced about a 10% quit rate and clinician counseling has been shown to increase cessation, so this approach builds on promising prior results.

Where this research is happening

Durham, United States

Researchers

About this research

  1. This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
  2. Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
  3. For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.
Last reviewed 2026-06-13 by the Find a Trial editorial team. Information on this page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals about clinical trial participation.