Text messages plus clinician support to help pregnant women quit smoking
Official title: Testing a Clinician and Patient Intervention to Promote smoking Cessation Among Pregnant Women
Funded at Duke University · NIH-11211222 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Combining supportive text messages with extra counseling from prenatal clinicians to help pregnant women stop smoking.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Duke University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Durham, United States) |
| Project start | June 1, 2021 |
| Project end | May 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $37,711 |
| NIH project number | 3R01CA247791-05S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11211222 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Pregnant women who currently smoke, are receiving prenatal care at participating clinics, and can receive SMS messages are the ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
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.
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.
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 gone: 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
-
Duke University
Durham, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Pollak, Kathryn I — Duke University
- Study coordinator: Pollak, Kathryn I
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Helping pregnant women quit smoking through texting and clinician support
This study is helping pregnant women quit smoking by using a friendly text messaging program along with extra support from their doctors, aiming to make it easier for them to stop smoking for a healthier pregnancy.
-
Social stress and smoking: why disadvantaged young adults struggle to quit
This grant looks at how daily social stress affects if and when disadvantaged young adults who smoke can quit and stay quit.
-
I-STOP: a mobile health program to help people with HIV quit smoking
A smartphone-based program designed to help people with HIV quit smoking in a sustainable, affordable way.
-
Smoking cessation help for people with HIV in South Africa
A program is being tested to help people living with HIV in South Africa quit smoking in ways that fit low-resource clinics and show good value.
-
Mobile tools to understand how sleep affects quitting smoking
This project uses a smartphone to track sleep and smoking in lower-income adults trying to quit to find how sleep patterns relate to staying smoke-free.
-
Integrated approach to lung screening and quitting for African Americans
A multi-level program aims to boost LDCT lung cancer screening uptake and help African American smokers quit, with support from a comprehensive community-focused plan.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.