SCEPTRE Feasibility Trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A randomised, controlled feasibility study of the SCEPTRE intervention to support smoking cessation and prevent relapse to tobacco use following a smoke free mental health inpatient stay
IRAS ID
329622
Contact name
Wendy Swann
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 31 days
Research summary
The proportion of people with mental illness who smoke tobacco is very high compared to the general population. It can reach figures over 70% among those in certain subgroups, such as hospitalised patients with mental illness compared to 15% in the general population. As people with mental illness are usually heavily addicted to tobacco, smoking causes large amounts of disease and deaths in this group, often from cardiovascular, respiratory illness and cancer. Smoking has been recognised as the single largest cause of health inequalities for people with mental illness. People with mental illness lose up to 20 years of life mainly to the consequences of smoking. Although mental health patients often want to quit and can do so successfully, smoking is rarely addressed in mental health care. Guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that mental health settings become entirely smokefree, and mental health patients should have access to evidence-based stop smoking treatment.
For many patients, receiving treatment in a smokefree inpatient environment will be a rare experience of abstaining from tobacco. Currently, no strategies to help maintain or achieve a smokefree lifestyle and avoid relapse post-discharge exist, meaning most patients will return to old smoking behaviours within days of discharge.
We have developed the SCEPTRE intervention to support mental health inpatients after discharge to maintain abstinence or positively change their smoking behaviour, building on existing evidence, behaviour change theory, and working closely with service users and mental healthcare professionals. The intervention was tested in a small-scale pilot study to test the research materials and processes, and preliminary acceptability to people with mental illness. Based on these findings, the SCEPTRE intervention has been revised and will be tested in the current feasibility trial.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NW/0312
Date of REC Opinion
13 Oct 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion