Best Practices for Smoking Cessation for Milwaukee Public Housing Residents

Project Description Narrative:

In Wisconsin, smoking rates among African-Americans (28%) and individuals living in low-income households (29%) are nearly double the statewide average (16%). In Milwaukee, the cigarette smoking rate approaches 40% in some neighborhoods. These neighborhoods also have the highest rates of lung cancer incidence and mortality. Approximately 10,600 households in the neighborhoods with the highest smoking rates are in multifamily public housing administered by the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development required that all public housing adopt a smoke-free policy.

This policy, however, did not provide support for additional resources to help residents quit smoking. Survey results show that residents who smoke are interested in on-site support for smoking cessation. This project will compare the effectiveness of two types of on-site support groups at helping residents quit smoking: standard support groups versus culturally-tailored support groups. These results will inform the development of best practices for smoking cessation that might be generalizable to public housing settings across Wisconsin and nationwide.