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Study Protocol
Revised

Smoking cessation programmes for women living in disadvantaged communities, “We Can Quit 2”: A systematic review protocol

[version 3; peer review: 2 approved]
PUBLISHED 02 Dec 2019
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Abstract

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in Ireland with almost 6,000 smokers dying each year from smoking-related diseases. Amongst younger Irish women, smoking rates are considerably higher in those from socially disadvantaged areas compared to women from affluent areas. Women from poorer areas also experience higher rates of lung cancer. To our knowledge, there are no peer reviewed published systematic reviews on the effectiveness of interventions tailored to reduce smoking rates in women from disadvantaged areas. This systematic review protocol will aim to examine the effectiveness of such interventions and to describe trial processes such as recruitment, follow-up and dropout prevention strategies, as well as barriers and enablers of successful implementation.   
A systematic review will be conducted of peer-reviewed randomised controlled trials and associated process evaluations of smoking cessation interventions designed for women living in socially disadvantaged areas. If the search returns, less than five studies are review criteria will expand to include quasi-experimental studies. A number of databases of scholarly literature will be searched from inception using a detailed search strategy. Two independent reviewers will screen titles, abstracts and full-text articles to identify relevant studies using a pre-defined checklist based on PICOS. In the case of disagreement, a third reviewer will be consulted. The quality of included studies will be assessed using the ‘Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation’ (GRADE) criteria. Quantitative data will be extracted and, if comparable, will be assessed using meta-analysis. A narrative meta-synthesis of qualitative data will be conducted.  
This review aims to synthesise information from relevant studies on smoking cessation interventions tailored for women from socially disadvantaged areas. The evidence obtained from studies and presented in this review will help guide future research in this area.
Registration: This review will be registered with International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO).

Keywords

Smoking Cessation, Women and Smoking, Community-based Intervention, Social and Health Inequalities, Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial, Feasibility study, Pilot trial, Systematic Review.

Revised Amendments from Version 2

We have reconfigured the abstract and introduction, including examples and statistics from other countries as well as Ireland. We have added our Prospero number.
We refined our definition of disadvantage throughout the paper.  To ensure clarity we have changed references within the text of the term ‘deprived’ to ‘disadvantaged’.
We are explicit in distinguishing between intervention description and research designs. We now write that we will include any RCT, including those with accompanying process evaluations.
We have updated the quality assessment for risk of bias section, adding that two reviewers will independently check each selected article to minimise bias, using the Cochrane Risk of Bias’ checklist. We have added use of the TIDierR checklist based on the reviewer’s suggestion, De Bruin’s methodology to properly describe the active content of control arms and we now note that no limitations will be placed on the types of usual care interventions that we will include in the review. We write that the second reviewer will extract data on a random sample of half the selected studies, using an initial batch for pilot testing before full extraction.
We write that authors of included studies will be contacted to ask for further information.
We accept that our previous specification of outcome was complex, and we have now simplified this and broadened our secondary outcome definition. We have made changes to our study selection and data extraction proposal as suggested.
We have widened our input from other research groups and hope to engage the Cochrane Tobacco Group.  
We clarify that we place no limits on the proportion of women aged 18 years and above from disadvantaged communities included in the review We have now added a new title to our paragraph on the GRADE software and more information on risk of bias.

See the authors' detailed response to the review by Marie Johnston
See the authors' detailed response to the review by Emma Hock

Introduction

Tobacco smoking remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco kills more than 7 million people each year1. WHO estimates that tobacco use is responsible for 16% of all deaths in adults over 30 years in the European Region, with many of these occurring prematurely2. Although more men than women die from tobacco-related causes worldwide3, the gap in prevalence between genders is less than 5% in developed European countries e.g. Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom4.

The influence of socio-economic deprivation is arguably the most important factor influencing smoking prevalence and decisions to quit. Lower socioeconomic groups likely start smoking at a younger age and smoke more cigarettes per day5. In European countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, smoking is more common in adolescent girls than boys6. The recent annual lifestyle survey in the Irish population ‘Healthy Ireland’7 found that smoking rates were higher in socio-economically disadvantaged areas than in affluent areas (26% versus 16%, respectively) and that women aged 18 to 29 from the lowest socioeconomic groups have almost double the smoking rates of women from affluent groups (56% versus 28%)8. In addition higher lung cancer rates have been observed in women from the most deprived compared to women from least deprived areas in 2016 (age standardised rate ratio, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.42 1.72)9.

There are also important differences between men and women with regard to the determinants of quitting. A previous systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of smoking cessation reported that women found it more difficult to maintain long-term abstinence compared to men10. The link between age and gender is also an important determinant of smoking cessation. A general population survey in the US, Canada and UK found that amongst those aged under-50, women were more likely than men to stop smoking and maintain quitting, however in older groups, men were more likely to quit than women11.

Smoking may have differential effects on women’s health such as increased risk of cervical cancer, breast cancer and premature menopause12, and there may be a cumulative effect of disadvantage on female smokers’ health. It is likely that disadvantage and gender interact to accentuate these differences and there is a need to expand and explore the scope of such findings. Female smokers from more disadvantaged groups should be targeted for greater support in smoking cessation, and there have been recent calls for the development of tailored interventions in this area13.

To our knowledge there are no peer reviewed, published systematic reviews that examine the smoking cessation interventions targeted to socio-economically disadvantaged women. A previous narrative review assessed gender differences in smoking cessation10 but did not specifically explore the role of disadvantage. This systematic review will evaluate the effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions tailored to socio-economically disadvantaged women.

Aims and research objectives

This systematic review protocol describes the methodology to identify, appraise and synthesise the existing evidence of effectiveness of smoking cessation programmes available to socio-economically disadvantaged women.

The review will address the following research objectives:

  • 1. Assess the effectiveness of intervention programmes for smoking cessation targeted to socio-economically disadvantaged women;

  • 2. Identify the recruitment strategies used by these programmes and quantify their success in the recruitment of participants;

  • 3. Identify the retention, drop-out and follow-up rates of the programmes;

  • 4. Identify any strategies used to enhance implementation e.g. training, coaching; and

  • 5. Identify the barriers and enablers to successful implementation of the programmes.

Methods

A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature will be conducted on smoking cessation interventions for socio-economically disadvantaged women including women living in socially deprived areas. This protocol is guided by the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols” (PRISMA-P) checklist14; a completed PRISMA-P checklist is available (see ‘Reporting Guidelines’). This review protocol is registered with PROSPERO (registration information: CRD42019130160).

Study design

The systematic review will consider RCTs and associated process evaluations. If the search returns fewer than five RCTs, review criteria will be expanded to include quasi-experimental studies of smoking cessation interventions designed for socio-economically disadvantaged women, including women living in disadvantaged areas.

Search strategy

The strategy aims to find published articles by a systematic search of Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, Cinahl, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, Sociological Abstracts, ASSIA, British Nursing Index, Google Scholar, Epistemonikos, with relevant MeSH headings. An experienced librarian (D.M.) will develop a sensitive search strategy for each individual database. A search of reference lists and citations will also be undertaken. There will be no restriction on country or year of publication; however, all papers must be in English. Where studies are not available, study authors will be contacted. This study will exclude grey literature, conference abstracts, opinion pieces, literature reviews commentaries and editorials. Bibliographies of all retrieved trials and other relevant publications, including reviews and meta-analyses will be checked for additional relevant articles.

Study eligibility

The terms of this review will be defined using PICOS (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Study Design).

Population. The study population will comprise women aged 18 years and older that are reported as being socio-economically disadvantaged who smoke and who have attended any type of smoking cessation programme. Our definition of socio-economic disadvantage refers to individuals’ socioeconomic resources or social position, typically low income, low educational attainment, rank in an occupational hierarchy or residence in a neighbourhood of socioeconomic disadvantage. Vulnerable populations e.g. racial and ethnic minorities will be included15.

Studies with mixed populations where the above information is reported will be included.

Inclusion criteria:

  • - RCTs of women aged 18 years and above who smoke and have attended any type of smoking cessation programme and are defined by the authors as socio-economically disadvantaged;

  • - Any definition of ‘neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage’ (including but not limited to disadvantaged communities, poverty, neighbourhood/area status) or any definition of ‘individually measured disadvantage’ (including but not limited to low income, entitlement to medical or other state benefits, unemployment, educational status, and social class);

  • - RCTs with both men and women in the same sample, if all findings are reported separately for women;

  • - RCTs with a sample of pregnant and non-pregnant women, if smoking cessation is reported separately for non-pregnant women;

  • - RCTs that include women living in any circumstances, but the results are segmented into smoking cessation for women in disadvantaged communities.

Exclusion criteria:

This review will exclude studies that are exclusive to men and to pregnant women.

Intervention. ‘Smoking cessation interventions’ will be defined as interventions or programmes that are designed to assist smoking cessation. These are predicted to consist of the following:

  • Any RCTs that report individual–level interventions such as (i) brief advice to stop smoking from a health professional (e.g. physician); (ii) pharmacotherapy (nicotine replacement therapies such as the transdermal patch, chewing gum, nasal sprays, lozenges, inhalers, dissolvable strips, and prescribed or self-administered alternatives to tobacco such as bupropion/varenicline or e-cigarettes); or (iii) behavioural support (any form of encouragement, advice or discussion from a trained stop-smoking specialist).

  • Any RCT which includes an accompanying process evaluation that describes recruitment and /or retention processes, implementation strategies, barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the intervention during the programmes.

We will use the 12-item TIDieR checklist to ensure there is completeness in the reporting of the included interventions16.

Comparison. Corresponding information will be extracted for the control arm of RCTs, typically ‘care as usual’. No limitations will be placed on the types of usual care interventions that we will include in the review. Authors of included studies will be contacted to ask for further information on the active ingredient in comparison groups so as not to underreport their active content. De Bruin et al.’s methodology will be followed17: i) identifying the active components of smoking cessation support provided to intervention and comparison groups and their impact on effect sizes; ii) identifying mediators and moderators of the intervention effectiveness; and iii) estimating intervention effect sizes adjusted for comparison group variability.

Outcome. The primary outcome of interest will be the proportion of the population randomised who achieve smoking cessation (abstinence) at the end of the intervention and at follow up time points. Point-prevalence and continuous abstinence will also be reported where available. Smoking cessation will be defined as biochemically verified smoking abstinence.

Secondary outcomes will be proportions of the population: i) recruited from those eligible; ii) retained at the end of the intervention; and iii) retained at subsequent follow-up data collection points. We will record self-reported smoking abstinence and any other form of reported smoking behaviour defined within each study e.g. change in mean number of cigarettes smoked.

Study design

Data selection and management

The title and abstracts retrieved from the electronic databases and references will be exported to EndNote bibliographic software for storage and the removal of duplicates. After removal of duplicates, the title and abstracts will be exported to Covidence software for reviewing18. Two independent reviewers will identify relevant titles and abstracts using a pre-defined checklist based on PICOS. If the reviewers deviate in their judgement, a third reviewer will assess these abstracts. The full text version will be obtained for the remaining relevant searches. The two independent reviewers will review the full text and those deemed irrelevant will be removed. Any disagreements that arise between the two reviewers will be resolved through discussion with a third reviewer14.

Quality assessment for risk of bias

Two reviewers will independently check each selected article to minimise bias. All selected articles will be judged for their quality based on the ‘Cochrane Risk of Bias’ checklist19.

Confidence in cumulative evidence

All selected articles will be judged for their quality based on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation’ (GRADE) system20. The five main factors that can downgrade the quality scores of RCTs20, which include risk of bias, inconsistency, indirectness, imprecision and publication bias will be addressed. The GRADE approach is comprehensively described in an online manual21 (freely available for download with the GRADEpro software). Studies with low quality may be excluded.

Data extraction

Using standardized data extraction forms, one reviewer will extract data from valid and selected papers for data analysis. A second reviewer will receive a random sample of half of all selected papers for independent review. This procedure will occur on an initial batch of studies, after which reviewers will pause, meet to discuss the process, and refine the method if necessary. If there are any conflicts within data extraction forms, a third reviewer will resolve these issues. The second reviewer will then continue with the data extraction of the selected papers.

The data extracted will include details specific to the review’s primary and secondary outcomes. Examples of data that will be extracted include, (a) general study information e.g. author, publication year, country of origin, enrolment period, research design, recruitment methods, inclusion and exclusion criteria, proportion of randomised participants from those eligible; (b) study population details e.g. sample size, age, duration of follow up , (c) outcomes of interest as above. All corresponding authors will be contacted for key information when data are ambiguous or missing from the published study. Data extraction will be independently crosschecked, by a third reviewer who will resolve disagreements by discussion.

Data synthesis

For quantitative data, where possible, odds ratios for binary outcome data and their 95% confidence intervals will be calculated from data generated by each included RCT. Data derived via intention-to-treat analysis will be used. Results from comparable groups of studies will be pooled into statistical meta-analysis using Review Manager software from the Cochrane Collaboration22.

Statistical heterogeneity between combined studies will be tested using the I2 method alongside the standard chi-square test. An estimate greater than or equal to 50% accompanied by a statistically significant Chi2 statistic will be interpreted as evidence of statistical heterogeneity23. If substantial levels of heterogeneity are found for the primary outcome measure, all data entered will be checked for accuracy. A visual inspection of the data will be conducted and any outlying studies removed to determine if heterogeneity persists. Sub-group analyses will be completed if sufficient data are available to examine between-study variability on categories of intervention or risk of bias.

The unit of analysis is expected to be at an individual level outcome. Where ‘cluster randomisation’ is used, these data will be extracted alongside an assessment of whether the authors accounted for intra-class correlation (ICC) in clustered studies. Where clusters have not been incorporated into the analysis of the trial, authors will be contacted and asked to provide the ICCs for their clustered data. These binary data derived from randomised cluster trials will then be divided by a ‘design effect’, estimated using the mean number of participants per cluster (m) and the ICC using the formula (Design effect = 1 + (m−1) × ICC]24). If the ICC cannot be obtained, we will assume it to be 0.125.

For any particular outcome, if more than 50% of data are unaccounted for, a meta-analysis will not be conducted. A random effects model will be used in preference to a fixed-effects model to combine individual RCT primary outcome measures as it takes into account that different trials are estimating different but related intervention effects.

Where statistical pooling is not possible the findings will be presented in narrative form. Heterogeneous qualitative data will be synthesised in a narrative format focused around the review’s objectives with findings presented thematically

Dissemination of findings

Findings will be disseminated in a peer reviewed journal and at conferences.

Study status

The study is currently ongoing. The search and screening of titles and abstracts has been completed. At time of publication we are performing full text screening. The expected end date for the study is December 2019.

Discussion

This review will systematically examine the available evidence of effectiveness on smoking cessation interventions in women from socially disadvantaged areas. This work is being undertaken to inform the We Can Quit2 cluster randomised feasibility study of a smoking cessation intervention in disadvantaged women. Trial investigators will support this review and will provide advice on how the evidence may be used to develop and scale up future smoking cessation services for disadvantaged women and to inform policy and further research in this area We also hope to engage the Cochrane Tobacco Group for further input and to benefit from their expertise.

Limitations

There are some limitations to the outlined systematic review. Most social intervention studies are unblinded. The relevance of this potential bias to our study will be discussed.

The restriction to English is acknowledged as a language bias. The cost of high-quality translations of in-depth qualitative data are beyond the resources of this review; however, non-English language studies identified at the screening stages and excluded from the synthesis will be listed in an appendix to aid future reviewers.

Data availability

Underlying data

No underlying data are associated with this article.

Reporting guidelines

Open Science Framework: PRISMA-P checklist for “Smoking cessation programmes for women living in disadvantaged communities, “We Can Quit”: A systematic review protocol”. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/J96M5.

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Version 3
VERSION 3 PUBLISHED 12 Jun 2019
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Burke E, Dobbie F, Dougall N et al. Smoking cessation programmes for women living in disadvantaged communities, “We Can Quit 2”: A systematic review protocol [version 3; peer review: 2 approved]. HRB Open Res 2019, 2:10 (https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.12901.3)
NOTE: If applicable, it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
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Open Peer Review

Current Reviewer Status: ?
Key to Reviewer Statuses VIEW
ApprovedThe paper is scientifically sound in its current form and only minor, if any, improvements are suggested
Approved with reservations A number of small changes, sometimes more significant revisions are required to address specific details and improve the papers academic merit.
Not approvedFundamental flaws in the paper seriously undermine the findings and conclusions
Version 3
VERSION 3
PUBLISHED 02 Dec 2019
Revised
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29
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Reviewer Report 05 Dec 2019
Emma Hock, Health Economics and Decision Science (HEDS), School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK 
Approved
VIEWS 29
I am happy ... Continue reading
CITE
CITE
HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Hock E. Reviewer Report For: Smoking cessation programmes for women living in disadvantaged communities, “We Can Quit 2”: A systematic review protocol [version 3; peer review: 2 approved]. HRB Open Res 2019, 2:10 (https://doi.org/10.21956/hrbopenres.14048.r26978)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
Version 2
VERSION 2
PUBLISHED 28 Jun 2019
Revised
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Reviewer Report 20 Aug 2019
Emma Hock, Health Economics and Decision Science (HEDS), School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK 
Approved with Reservations
VIEWS 41
This manuscript reports on a protocol for a systematic review of smoking cessation programmes for women living in disadvantaged communities. Strengths include the use of PRISMA-P, study selection, data extraction and quality assessment independently undertaken by two reviewers, and a ... Continue reading
CITE
CITE
HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Hock E. Reviewer Report For: Smoking cessation programmes for women living in disadvantaged communities, “We Can Quit 2”: A systematic review protocol [version 3; peer review: 2 approved]. HRB Open Res 2019, 2:10 (https://doi.org/10.21956/hrbopenres.13999.r26682)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
  • Author Response 02 Dec 2019
    Emma Burke, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, D24 DH74, Ireland
    02 Dec 2019
    Author Response
    Response One
    The protocol is now published on Prospero; the registration number is: CRD42019130160. We have added our registration number to the paper (Line 106)
     
    Response Two
    Thank you ... Continue reading
COMMENTS ON THIS REPORT
  • Author Response 02 Dec 2019
    Emma Burke, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, D24 DH74, Ireland
    02 Dec 2019
    Author Response
    Response One
    The protocol is now published on Prospero; the registration number is: CRD42019130160. We have added our registration number to the paper (Line 106)
     
    Response Two
    Thank you ... Continue reading
Views
81
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Reviewer Report 26 Jul 2019
Marie Johnston, Health Psychology Group, Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK 
Approved
VIEWS 81
This paper is the protocol for a systematic review funded by HRB. The study aims to identify papers of smoking cessation intervention trials conducted with women from disadvantaged communities, to extract data on PICO and GRADE, and draw conclusions about ... Continue reading
CITE
CITE
HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Johnston M. Reviewer Report For: Smoking cessation programmes for women living in disadvantaged communities, “We Can Quit 2”: A systematic review protocol [version 3; peer review: 2 approved]. HRB Open Res 2019, 2:10 (https://doi.org/10.21956/hrbopenres.13999.r26686)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
  • Author Response 02 Dec 2019
    Emma Burke, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, D24 DH74, Ireland
    02 Dec 2019
    Author Response
    Response One
    Thank you for this comment. We agree that there will likely be a diverse array of definitions of disadvantage in the papers we include. In order to have ... Continue reading
COMMENTS ON THIS REPORT
  • Author Response 02 Dec 2019
    Emma Burke, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, D24 DH74, Ireland
    02 Dec 2019
    Author Response
    Response One
    Thank you for this comment. We agree that there will likely be a diverse array of definitions of disadvantage in the papers we include. In order to have ... Continue reading

Comments on this article Comments (0)

Version 3
VERSION 3 PUBLISHED 12 Jun 2019
Comment
Alongside their report, reviewers assign a status to the article:
Approved - the paper is scientifically sound in its current form and only minor, if any, improvements are suggested
Approved with reservations - A number of small changes, sometimes more significant revisions are required to address specific details and improve the papers academic merit.
Not approved - fundamental flaws in the paper seriously undermine the findings and conclusions

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