A successful outreach strategy for identifying low income households that allow smoking in the home: Partnering with united way 2-1-1

Due in large part to the increasing adoption of smoke-free environments in the US, the home is a primary source of exposure to SHS for children and nonsmoking adults. Rules that limit smoking in the home are less common in households with smokers, and in African American and low-income households. Reaching low-income households that still allow smoking in the home can be a challenge given that over 80% of U.S. households are now smoke-free. This presentation describes a randomized controlled trial to create smoke-free homes in low-income households. Participants were recruited through United Way of Greater Atlanta 2-1-1(UWGA 2-1-1), a contact center connecting people to the resources they need to address everyday challenges. The center receives an average of 1,200 calls per day from callers seeking assistance. UWGA 2-1-1 line agents screened, consented and collected baseline data from 500 eligible participants. Enrolled participants were mostly African American/Black, female and unemployed with a mean age of 40.2 (SD = 10.9). Approximately 80% were smokers; among smokers, average cigarette consumption was, 12.9 cigarettes per day (SD = 8.2). More than half of participants (55.6%) reported an annual household income of $10,000 or less, and 79% lived with children under the age of 18. Most participants (86.6%) reported being exposed to second hand smoke within the past 7 days. Partial smoking bans were reported by 61.6% of the participants, whereas 38.4% had no household smoking bans. This study is an illustration of a successful partnership with UWGA 2-1-1 in reaching an at-risk population.