Skip to main content
Log in

Evaluation of a home-based intervention program to reduce infant passive smoking and lower respiratory illness

Journal of Behavioral Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether a home-based intervention program could reduce infant passive smoking and lower respiratory illness. The intervention consisted of four nurse home visits during the first 6 months of life, designed to assist families to reduce the infant's exposure to tobacco smoke. Among the 121 infants of smoking mothers who completed the study, there was a significant difference in trend over the year between the intervention and the control groups in the amount of exposure to tobacco smoke; infants in the intervention group were exposed to 5.9 fewer cigarettes per day at 12 months. There was no group difference in infant urine cotinine excretion. The prevalence of persistent lower respiratory symptoms was lower among intervention-group infants of smoking mothers whose head of household had no education beyond high school: intervention group, 14.6%; and controls, 34.0%.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arfi, C., Kaloustian, J., Pauli, A. M., et al. (1989). Nicotine and indoor air pollution. In Bieva, C. J., Courtois, Y., and Govaerts, M. (eds.),Present and Future of Indoor Air Quality: Proceedings of the Brussels Conference, February 14–16, 1989, Excerpta Medica, International Congress Series No. 860, Elsevier Science, New York, pp. 173–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, K. E., and Dent, C. W. (1982). Influence of an objective measure on self-reports of behavior.J. Appl. Psychol. 67: 623–628.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, K. E., Greenberg, R. A., Strecher, V. J., and Haley, N. J. (1989). A comparison of biochemical and interview measures of the exposure of infants to environmental tobacco smoke.Eval. Health Prof. 12: 179–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benowitz, N. L., and Jacob, P. (1984). Daily intake of nicotine during cigarette smoking.Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 35: 499–504.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chilmonczyk, B. A., Palomaki, G. E., Knight, G. J., et al. (1992). An unsuccessful cotinine-assisted intervention strategy to reduce environmental tobacco smoke exposure during infancy.Am. J. Dis. Child. 146: 357–360.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Colletti, G., Supnick, J. A., and Abueg, F. R. (1982). Assessment of the relationship between self-reported smoking rate and Ecolyzer measurement.Addict. Behav. 7: 183–188.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coultas, D. B., Samet, J. M., McCarthy, J. F., and Spengler, J. D. (1990a). Variability of measures of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in the home.Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. 142: 602–606.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coultas, D. B., Samet, J. M., McCarthy, J. F., and Spengler, J. D. (1990b). A personal monitoring study to assess workplace exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.Am. J. Public Health 80: 988–990.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dwyer, J. H., MacKinnon, D. P., Pentz M. A., et al. (1989). Estimating intervention effects in longitudinal studies.Am. J. Epidemiol. 130: 781–795.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ferris, B. G. (1978). Epidemiology standardization project.J. Am. Thorac. Soc. 118: 1–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleiss, J. L. (1973).Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions, Wiley and Sons, New York, p. 42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, R. A., Bauman, K. E., Glover, L. H., et al. (1989). Ecology of passive smoking by young infants.J. Pediatr. 114: 774–780.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, R. A., Bauman, K. E., Strecher, V. J. et al. (1991). Passive smoking during the first year of life.Am. J. Public Health 81: 850–853.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Henningfield, J. E. (1990). Can genetic constitution affect the “objective” diagnosis of nicotine dependence?Am. J. Public Health 80: 1040–1041.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Idle, J. R. (1990). Titrating exposure to tobacco smoke using cotinine—a minefield of misunderstandings.J. Clin. Epidemiol. 43: 313–317.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jennrich, R. I., and Schluchter M. D. (1986). Unbalanced repeated-measures models with structured covariance matrices.Biometrics 42: 805–820.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koch, G. G., Landis, J. R., Freeman, D. H., and Lehnen, R. G. (1977). A general methodology for the analysis of experiments with repeated measurement of categorical data.Biometrics 33: 133–158.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Margolis, P. A., Greenberg, R. A., Keyes, L. L., et al. (1992). Lower respiratory illness in infants and low socioeconomic status.Am. J. Public Health 82: 1119–1126.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, C., and Miles, J. (1983). Lower respiratory tract symptoms in Queensland schoolchildren. The questionnaire: its reliability and validity.Aust. N.Z. J. Med. 13: 264–269.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muller, K. E., and Barton, C. N. (1989). Approximate power for repeated measures ANOVA lacking sphericity.J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 84: 549–555 [A published erratum appears inJ. Am. Stat. Assoc. (1991). 86: 255–256.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council (1986).Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Measuring Exposures and Assessing Health Effects, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry, C. L., and Silvis, G. L. (1987). Smoking prevention: Behavioral prescriptions for the pediatrician.Pediatrics 79: 790–799.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz-Bickenbach, D., Schulte-Hobein, B., Abt, S., Plum, C., and Nau, H. (1987). Smoking and passive smoking during pregnancy and early infancy: Effects on birth weight, lactation period, and cotinine concentrations in mother's milk and infant's urine.Toxicol. Lett. 35: 73–81.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sheen, S. J. (1988). Detection of nicotine in foods and plant materials.J. Food Sci. 53: 1572–1573.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, R. L. (1949). An extension of control group design.Psychol. Bull. 46: 137–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strecher, V. J., Bauman, K. E., Boat, B., Fowler, M. G., Greenberg, R. A., and Stedman, H. (1989). The development and formative evaluation of a home-based intervention to reduce passive smoking by infants.Health Educ. Res. 4: 225–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strecher, V. J., Bauman, K. E., Boat, B., Fowler, M. G., Greenberg, R., and Stedman, H. (1993). The role of outcome and efficacy expectations in an intervention designed to reduce infants' exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.Health Educ. Res. 8: 137–143.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (1986).The Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General, DHHS Publ. No. (CDC) 87-8398, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Environmental Protection AGency (1992).Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders, EPA/600/6-90/006F. Washington, DC.

  • Woodward, A., Owen, N., Grgurinovich, N., Griffith, F., and Linke, H. (1987). Trial of an intervention to reduce passive smoking in infancy.Pediat. Pulmonol. 3: 173–178.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

This research was funded by Grant 28895 from the National Heart, Lund, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Greenberg, R.A., Strecher, V.J., Bauman, K.E. et al. Evaluation of a home-based intervention program to reduce infant passive smoking and lower respiratory illness. J Behav Med 17, 273–290 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01857953

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01857953

Key Words

Navigation