Randomized controlled trial of an Asian culture-tailored lung health intervention study for Chinese and Korean Americans: Study protocol

Asian Americans are less likely to receive smoking cessation advice and more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer at a distant stage of the disease than the general U.S. population. The primary outcomes of this study are the uptake of a lung cancer screening (LCS) test and biochemically verified smoking cessation abstinence 6 months after baseline assessment among 128 Asian Americans. The secondary outcomes include self-reported 7-day point prevalence abstinence at 1, 3, and 6 months. Participants will be randomized to either an experimental or a control group. The experimental group will receive a deep-level Asian culturally tailored lung health (ACT) intervention consisting of eight smoking cessation counseling sessions, education about the LCS test, and family coaching. Participants in the control group will receive a surface-level ACT intervention that includes six smoking cessation counseling sessions. Both groups will have the option of having counseling sessions via either video or telephone calls, depending on their preference. Counselors in both groups will be matched with participants based on ethnicity and language. Additionally, all participants irrespective of group allocation will receive combined nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products and educational materials about LCS decision-aids and NRT products. The deep-level ACT intervention is a departure from previous interventions conducted with the Asian American population since it integrates smoking cessation with lung cancer screening education and actively addresses negative attitudes and beliefs toward NRT assessed at baseline during counseling sessions.