Smokers with mobility impairments needed for new research study
(posted March 16, 2010)
People with mobility impairments who rely on mobility aids, such as a wheelchair, cane, or scooter, have significantly higher smoking rates than the general population. While interventions have been developed to help other disadvantaged groups of people quit smoking, none currently exist for individuals with mobility impairments.
That’s why researchers with The Miriam Hospital’s Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine are looking for smokers with mobility impairments to participate in a new study, Active Behaviors for Living Empowered (ABLE): A Program for Smokers with Mobility Impairment
This year, the ABLE team will be conducting discussion groups to learn more about how to best serve smokers with mobility impairments. To be eligible to participate in discussion groups, participants must:
• Be current smokers or smokers who have quit in the last two years. They must smoke (or have smoked) a minimum of three cigarettes per day. Current smokers do NOT have to want to quit smoking in order to participate.
• Have used some sort of equipment, such as a cane, brace, scooter or wheelchair for at least the past year.
• Be at least 18 years of age
• Speak EnglishParticipants will take part in a one-time, two-hour discussion group about smoking. Their feedback will help researchers develop a series of theory-based interventional DVDs aimed at motivating people with mobility impairments to quit smoking. Researchers plan to test these DVDs in the next phase of the study.
Project ABLE is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.
For more information about Project ABLE, please contact Tiffany at 401-793-8168 or email ABLE@lifespan.org.