Schorling 1997

Methods	Country: USA Objective: To increase the smoking cessation rate among rural African Americans. Study Sites: Buckingham County and Louisa County, Virginia. Programme name: The Alliance of Black Churches Health Project. Design: Quasi‐experimental, with Buckingham County assigned to receive the intervention, and Louisa County to act as the reference or comparison county. Analysis: Cohort analyses, t‐tests and chi squared, repeated‐measures ANOVA, logistic regression, 2‐sided P‐values, individual as the unit of analysis.
Participants	Population of study sites: Buckingham County ‐ 11,496, Louisa County ‐ 20,325. Age: 18+ Sex: female and male Ethnicity: African American, 26‐39%.
Interventions	Theoretical basis: transtheoretical model of stages of change, community participation. Components: community organization, formation of coalitions among the black churches, training volunteers as smoking cessation counselors from each church to provide individual advice and support, a self‐help manual, smoking cessation devotional booklets, county‐wide Gospel Quit Nights, annual smoking cessation contests, and poster and essay contests in the schools. In Louisa County, a similar approach was taken, but the main health issue addressed was hypertension, with training of volunteers in dietary and exercise counseling. By design, smoking was not addressed in this county. Year started: 1991 Duration: 1.5 yrs Maintenance: Coalitions were still active 12m after the formal completion of the project.
Outcomes	Questionnaire: in‐person interview at home Biochemical measure of smoking: none taken, but permission to check on smoking status using a biochemical test was obtained. Baseline: 1990, immediately preceding the intervention Outcome: 1991, 18m after the intervention began. Further follow up: none found.
Notes	Baseline data on mediating variables included beliefs (smoking has affected health, quitting will improve health, pros and cons of smoking), confidence would be a non‐smoker in 1 yr, previous quit attempts, smoking environment (spouse or partner smokes, friends smoke), family would help to quit, friends would help to quit, and majority of people think respondent should quit. Smokers were classified into their stage of change, pre‐contemplation, contemplation, and preparation, and at the follow up, action and maintenance.