PediaLink Secondhand Smoke Module

The objective of this study is to develop and test an online system to train pediatric offices in ways to address the problem of children’s exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS). This is a serious and prevalent health issue, with over twenty-four percent of children living in a home with a smoking parent. Children exposed to SHS are at increased risk for low birth weight, asthma, bronchiolitis, sinusitis, bacterial respiratory infections, decreased lung growth, decreased exercise tolerance, cognitive deficits, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Unfortunately, many pediatricians do not systematically advise parents to establish strictly enforced home and car no-smoking rules. The research plan will be divided into two phases. The specific aims of the first phase to develop an online training for pediatricians to address the secondhand smoke exposure of children and parental smoking, based on the strategies learned during in-person CEASE (Clinical Effort Against Secondhand Smoke Exposure) trainings. The specific aims of the second phase of the study are to test the feasibility and efficacy of the online training for implementing an office system to address the secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure of children in the home and car and to elicit practicing pediatrician and key staff responses to the specific components of the training in order to explore the intervention implementation process for the pediatric office setting. Two pediatric practices will be recruited and randomized to control and intervention status. The pediatricians at the intervention practice will take the PediaLink training and use the enhanced website to support their office system change. The control practice will receive standard of care tobacco control pamphlets. Prior to implementation, office staff at both practices will complete a validated survey that explores practice behavior and change. This survey will also be given at the 12 week post-intervention point. The pre and post intervention clinician surveys will be compared in analysis to understand the impact of the online training and website on self-reported practice change. Detailed feasibility and process evaluation will inform tobacco control strategy in pediatric offices nationwide and will provide pilot data for a randomized controlled dissemination trial through the American Academy of Pediatrics practice research network. For more information about PediaLink visit:www.pedialink.org.