RECRUITING CANCER-PATIENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN MOTIVATING THEIR RELATIVES TO QUIT SMOKING - A CANCER CONTROL STUDY OF THE CANCER AND LEUKEMIAGROUP-B (CALGB-9072)

BACKGROUND. A diagnosis of cancer provides a teachable moment in which a physician can counsel or teach the patient. The Cancer and Leukemia Group B hypothesized that this teachable moment could also be used to encourage counseling of the patients' relatives who smoke. The author s' first study sought to determine the feasibility of such an interven tion, the cooperation of the patients, and the compliance of relatives who were smokers. The long-range goal is to recruit by mail a large p opulation of adult smokers into an intervention program and to assist them in quitting cigarette smoking. METHODS, Oncologists and their cli nical research associates asked recently diagnosed cancer patients to identify their relatives who were smokers and assist in persuading the m to quit. Consenting patients spoke to relatives and mailed them a pe rsonalized motivational leaflet along with a list of the benefits of q uitting smoking. Intervention was continued only with relatives who we re contacted in this manner. The participating physicians then wrote t o the smokers, advising them to quit; enclosed with each physician's l etter were the National Cancer Institute booklet ''Clearing the Air,'' which is about quitting smoking, and a questionnaire determining ''st age of change'' (the stage of the smoker's inaction or action regardin g quitting smoking). After 6 months, a postintervention questionnaire was mailed to the relatives. RESULTS, Written consent was obtained fro m 89% of 144 eligible patients solicited. Eighty percent of patients i nvolved in the study contacted relatives. Sixty-three percent of conta cted relatives returned the first questionnaire and 40% answered the s econd. Nine percent of all contacted relatives reported having quit sm oking after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS, The intervention proved to be feasible and will lead to the next study, which will randomize rela tives who smoke within a more intensive intervention over 12 months an d compare the results with nonintervention controls. (C) 1997 American Cancer Society.