Examination of the Breathe Free for Women Stop Smoking Program Among African American Women: A Pilot Study

Smoking is the primary avoidable cause of illness and death related to lung cancer and African American (AA) women bear a disproportionate burden. Abstaining from smoking is the single most important preventive health behavior AA women can engage in to reduce their chances of illness and death related to lung cancer. Standard smoking cessation programs designed for the general population have failed to show a significant impact on reducing smoking rates among AA women. Smoking cessation guidelines suggest that smoking cessation interventions be multimodal and targeted and tailored to the population receiving treatment. The Breathe Free for Women (BFFW) smoking cessation program fulfils this criteria but has not been examined for its effectiveness among AA women. The short-term objective ofthis study is to examine the effectiveness of the BFFW program among AA women. The long-term objective of this study is to improve smoking cessation intervention efficacy and decrease smoking among AA women, subsequently reducing disparate rates of lung cancer in this population.