Smoking CessationNCT05958667
Quitxt Mobile Text Messaging Cessation Research Study
A study testing Quitxt text messaging or Chat in people with Smoking Cessation, run by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The health benefits of smoking cessation by age 30 are much greater than cessation later in life, including gaining 10 years of life, compared with those who continue to smoke. The goal of the proposed study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the bilingual and culturally tailored Quitxt mobile cessation intervention. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 29 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Smoking Cessation
- What is being tested?
- Quitxt text messaging or Chat
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 1,200 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 12 Feb 2026to Aug 2028
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 29 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult
Who may be able to join
- Latinos
- aged 18-29 years;
- smoking at least one cigarette/day ≥3 days/week;
- interested in quitting;
- willing to provide follow-up data;
- are not simultaneously participating in a cessation program;
Show all 10Show fewer
- own a cell phone or smartphone;
- are able to send and receive text messages and access the Internet;
- reside in the study area; and
- able to provide informed consent to participate in the study.
Who cannot join
- are not interested in quitting;
- are unable to provide consent due to a mental, emotional, or physical handicap that keep them from understanding the consent information;
- do not own a cell phone with text and Internet capabilities;
- are unable to respond to text messages and questions or unable to view the study mobile webpages/YouTube videos (i.e., if they are blind, deaf); or
- are planning to move from the study area within the study time span.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
United States1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas, 78229
Patricia Chalela, DrPH, 210-562-6513, chalela@uthscsa.edu
About this study
Official title: Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess Innovative Smoking Cessation Services for Young Adults in Texas
The health benefits of smoking cessation by age 30 are much greater than cessation later in life, including gaining 10 years of life, compared with those who continue to smoke. The goal of the proposed study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the bilingual and culturally tailored Quitxt mobile cessation intervention. Quitxt provides interactive messages through texts or chat with visual and video content employing theory- and evidence-based techniques to prompt and sustain cessation. The study will recruit 1,200 Latino young adult smokers aged 18-29 who enroll and agree to make quit attempts, with half randomly assigned (like flipping a coin) to receive Quitxt and half to abbreviated text messages with smoking cessation-related content and referral to the Texas Department of State Health Services cessation program Yes Quit (which has diverse formats, but not explicitly tailored for young Latino adults in South Texas). Participants respond to baseline and follow-up assessments at one, three and six months after their enrollment, and those who report cessation will be asked to provide saliva samples to confirm they quit smoking. The sample size will be sufficient to detect expected higher cessation rates in those who are enrolled in Quitxt than those who are enrolled in Texas DSHS Yes Quit. The investigators will publish results in scientific journals, report them at scientific and community meetings, share them on social media, and publicize them widely. This study has the potential to advance public health by evaluating the effectiveness of a scalable, easily disseminated and adaptable intervention to help young adults, especially Latinos, quit smoking and reduce smoking-related cancer and chronic disease morbidity and mortality and their associated healthcare costs.
Read the detailed description
Despite major advances in tobacco control and treatment, tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the US. Smoking prevalence is highest among Texas young adults (ages 18-29) and even higher among those with less than a high-school education and those living in rural areas and at or below the poverty level, such as Latinos. About 19.2% of Latinos ages 18-29 in the study areas are current smokers placing them at higher risk of cancer and other tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. Young adults are heavy users of smartphones, text messaging, social media chats and other mobile social media, providing a remarkable opportunity for innovation in the delivery of health promotion services to reduce health disparities in this large and rapidly growing racial/ethnic population. New social media have an extraordinary theoretical potential for assisting smoking cessation by providing peer modeling and eliciting social reinforcement for behavior change. The goal of this project is to experimentally evaluate Quitxt, a culturally appropriate mobile smoking cessation program. Quitxt - launched by an interdisciplinary research team using proven social cognitive, motivational interviewing, and brief intervention methods for promoting behavior change - blends bilingual text and social media messaging for smoking cessation tailored to the language and culture of young adult smokers in the vulnerable region of South Texas. Quitxt has not been tested in a research study, as its creation as an evidence-based cancer prevention service for young adult smokers was supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). To study the effects of Quitxt, the study team will recruit 1,200 young adult (ages 18-29) Latino Spanish- and English-speaking smokers over the 5-year study interval in South Texas. A two-group parallel randomized controlled trial will be conducted to compare rates of smoking cessation: 1) the intervention group will receive the innovative Quitxt text messaging or the chat mobile service; and 2) the usual care group will receive abbreviated text messaging with smoking cessation-related content and referral to the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) cessation program Yes Quit (www.yesquit.org). The investigators will measure effects online at time of enrollment and again at one, three and six months later. The investigators will validate reports of smoking cessation via biological tests, for those who report smoking cessation at one, three and six-month follow-ups. The investigators hypothesize that the group receiving the Quitxt intervention will achieve significantly higher smoking cessation rates than the group receiving usual care. This study will expand research on the health of young adult Latinos by testing an innovative, mobile, culturally, and linguistically appropriate intervention to reduce smoking among young adult Latino smokers by enhancing their skills development, competence, and self-efficacy to initiate and maintain cessation. Moreover, this study will advance public health by testing the effectiveness of a scalable, evidence-based, easily disseminated, and adaptable intervention with potentially broad national reach to help young adults stop smoking and reduce smoking-related cancer and chronic disease morbidity and mortality and their associated healthcare costs.
- Conditions
- Smoking Cessation
- Being tested
- Quitxt text messaging or Chat, Usual care
- Keywords
- Quitxt, Young adults, Latinos
- Medical subject headings
- Smoking Cessation
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Quitxt text messaging or ChatBehavioural
Also called Culturally appropriate mobile smoking cessation proram
Mobile intervention using proven social cognitive, motivational interviewing, and brief intervention methods for promoting behavior change - blends bilingual text and social media messaging for smoking cessation tailored to the language and culture of young adult smokers in our vulnerable region of South Texas.
Usual careOther
Also called Abbreviated text messaging with smoking cessation-related content
Abbreviated text messaging with smoking cessation-related content and referral to the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) cessation program Yes Quit.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Quitxt bilingual text messaging and chat | Experimental | Culturally and linguistically tailored, bilingual text messaging or chat mobile app.
Our text messaging or chat intervention will include messaging options in which users can text or message a code when they are craving a cigarette or at risk of relapse and immediately receive text or social media messages to help them avoid smoking. The social media content also will include opportunities for users to repeatedly visit key content pages and receive immediate support when experiencing cravings, stress, bad mood, or when feeling at risk of smoking. Receives: Behavioral: Quitxt text messaging or Chat |
| Usual care | Other | Abbreviated text messaging with smoking cessation-related content and referral to the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) cessation program Yes Quit (www.yesquit.org) available to smokers seeking help quitting. The abbreviated text messaging will include general information on smoking harms and benefits of cessation, and baseline data collection and follow-up assessments. Receives: Other: Usual care |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Smoking cessation
Measure of smoking cessation (7-day point prevalence abstinence)self-reported and biochemically verified.
Measured: 6 months
Secondary outcomes (1)
Smoking cessation assessment
Measure of smoking cessation (7-day point prevalence abstinence)self-reported and biochemically verified.
Measured: 1 month and 3 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted24 Jul 2023
- Study start12 Feb 2026
- Primary completionAug 2028 (estimated)
- Study completionAug 2028 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Smoking CessationStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- A two-group parallel randomized controlled trial with 1,200 Spanish- and English-speaking young Latino adult smokers in South Texas (ages 18-29) to assess the effects of Quitxt on smoking cessation.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 1,200 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, The University of Texas at San Antonio
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Patricia Chalela, DrPH, Principal investigator, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05958667
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- HSC20230473H
- Status last verified
- Mar 2026
- First submitted
- 14 Jul 2023
- Last updated
- 31 Mar 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: Annual presentation at a national conference is expected. Community Presentations/Forums for young adult organizations and groups, public health and clinical practitioners, and the community at large. Educational presentations and infographics about the importance of quitting smoking aimed at colleges, technical schools, community stakeholders, at health fairs or at in-person and/or virtual educational sessions organized with the study team's community partners. Submission to scientific journals Communications, American Journal of Health Promotion, Tobacco Control, and other scientific periodicals to disseminate findings including Quitxt text messaging and chat development and implementation and report experimental results based on follow-up assessments. Via the Institute for Health Promotion Research home website; its institutional e-newsletters; and its Salud America! (SA!) national network.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 31 Mar 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess Innovative Smoking Cessation Services for Young Adults in Texas
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05958667
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- HSC20230473H
- Conditions
- Smoking Cessation
- Keywords
- Quitxt, Young adults, Latinos
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 1,200 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at San AntonioUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, The University of Texas at San Antonio
- Study start
- 12 Feb 2026 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Aug 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Aug 2028 (estimated)
- First posted
- 24 Jul 2023 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The health benefits of smoking cessation by age 30 are much greater than cessation later in life, including gaining 10 years of life, compared with those who continue to smoke. The goal of the proposed study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the bilingual and culturally tailored Quitxt mobile cessation intervention. Quitxt provides interactive messages through texts or chat with visual and video content employing theory- and evidence-based techniques to prompt and sustain cessation. The study will recruit 1,200 Latino young adult smokers aged 18-29 who enroll and agree to make quit attempts, with half randomly assigned (like flipping a coin) to receive Quitxt and half to abbreviated text messages with smoking cessation-related content and referral to the Texas Department of State Health Services cessation program Yes Quit (which has diverse formats, but not explicitly tailored for young Latino adults in South Texas). Participants respond to baseline and follow-up assessments at one, three and six months after their enrollment, and those who report cessation will be asked to provide saliva samples to confirm they quit smoking. The sample size will be sufficient to detect expected higher cessation rates in those who are enrolled in Quitxt than those who are enrolled in Texas DSHS Yes Quit. The investigators will publish results in scientific journals, report them at scientific and community meetings, share them on social media, and publicize them widely. This study has the potential to advance public health by evaluating the effectiveness of a scalable, easily disseminated and adaptable intervention to help young adults, especially Latinos, quit smoking and reduce smoking-related cancer and chronic disease morbidity and mortality and their associated healthcare costs.
Detailed description
Despite major advances in tobacco control and treatment, tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the US. Smoking prevalence is highest among Texas young adults (ages 18-29) and even higher among those with less than a high-school education and those living in rural areas and at or below the poverty level, such as Latinos. About 19.2% of Latinos ages 18-29 in the study areas are current smokers placing them at higher risk of cancer and other tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. Young adults are heavy users of smartphones, text messaging, social media chats and other mobile social media, providing a remarkable opportunity for innovation in the delivery of health promotion services to reduce health disparities in this large and rapidly growing racial/ethnic population. New social media have an extraordinary theoretical potential for assisting smoking cessation by providing peer modeling and eliciting social reinforcement for behavior change. The goal of this project is to experimentally evaluate Quitxt, a culturally appropriate mobile smoking cessation program. Quitxt - launched by an interdisciplinary research team using proven social cognitive, motivational interviewing, and brief intervention methods for promoting behavior change - blends bilingual text and social media messaging for smoking cessation tailored to the language and culture of young adult smokers in the vulnerable region of South Texas. Quitxt has not been tested in a research study, as its creation as an evidence-based cancer prevention service for young adult smokers was supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). To study the effects of Quitxt, the study team will recruit 1,200 young adult (ages 18-29) Latino Spanish- and English-speaking smokers over the 5-year study interval in South Texas. A two-group parallel randomized controlled trial will be conducted to compare rates of smoking cessation: 1) the intervention group will receive the innovative Quitxt text messaging or the chat mobile service; and 2) the usual care group will receive abbreviated text messaging with smoking cessation-related content and referral to the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) cessation program Yes Quit (www.yesquit.org). The investigators will measure effects online at time of enrollment and again at one, three and six months later. The investigators will validate reports of smoking cessation via biological tests, for those who report smoking cessation at one, three and six-month follow-ups. The investigators hypothesize that the group receiving the Quitxt intervention will achieve significantly higher smoking cessation rates than the group receiving usual care. This study will expand research on the health of young adult Latinos by testing an innovative, mobile, culturally, and linguistically appropriate intervention to reduce smoking among young adult Latino smokers by enhancing their skills development, competence, and self-efficacy to initiate and maintain cessation. Moreover, this study will advance public health by testing the effectiveness of a scalable, evidence-based, easily disseminated, and adaptable intervention with potentially broad national reach to help young adults stop smoking and reduce smoking-related cancer and chronic disease morbidity and mortality and their associated healthcare costs.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- A two-group parallel randomized controlled trial with 1,200 Spanish- and English-speaking young Latino adult smokers in South Texas (ages 18-29) to assess the effects of Quitxt on smoking cessation.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Quitxt bilingual text messaging and chat | Experimental | Behavioral: Quitxt text messaging or ChatCulturally and linguistically tailored, bilingual text messaging or chat mobile app. Our text messaging or chat intervention will include messaging options in which users can text or message a code when they are craving a cigarette or at risk of relapse and immediately receive text or social media messages to help them avoid smoking. The social media content also will include opportunities for users to repeatedly visit key content pages and receive immediate support when experiencing cravings, stress, bad mood, or when feeling at risk of smoking. |
| Usual care | Other | Other: Usual careAbbreviated text messaging with smoking cessation-related content and referral to the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) cessation program Yes Quit (www.yesquit.org) available to smokers seeking help quitting. The abbreviated text messaging will include general information on smoking harms and benefits of cessation, and baseline data collection and follow-up assessments. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 29 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult
Key inclusion criteria (10 listed)
- Latinos
- aged 18-29 years;
- smoking at least one cigarette/day ≥3 days/week;
- interested in quitting;
- willing to provide follow-up data;
Key exclusion criteria (5 listed)
- are not interested in quitting;
- are unable to provide consent due to a mental, emotional, or physical handicap that keep them from understanding the consent information;
- do not own a cell phone with text and Internet capabilities;
- are unable to respond to text messages and questions or unable to view the study mobile webpages/YouTube videos (i.e., if they are blind, deaf); or
- are planning to move from the study area within the study time span.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Quitxt text messaging or ChatAlso: Culturally appropriate mobile smoking cessation proramMobile intervention using proven social cognitive, motivational interviewing, and brief intervention methods for promoting behavior change - blends bilingual text and social media messaging for smoking cessation tailored to the language and culture of young adult smokers in our vulnerable region of South Texas. | Behavioural | Quitxt bilingual text messaging and chat |
| Usual careAlso: Abbreviated text messaging with smoking cessation-related contentAbbreviated text messaging with smoking cessation-related content and referral to the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) cessation program Yes Quit. | Other | Usual care |
Primary outcome
Smoking cessation
Time frame: 6 months
Measure of smoking cessation (7-day point prevalence abstinence)self-reported and biochemically verified.
1 secondary outcome
Smoking cessation assessment
Time frame: 1 month and 3 months
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 31 Mar 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. Annual presentation at a national conference is expected. Community Presentations/Forums for young adult organizations and groups, public health and clinical practitioners, and the community at large. Educational presentations and infographics about the importance of quitting smoking aimed at colleges, technical schools, community stakeholders, at health fairs or at in-person and/or virtual educational sessions organized with the study team's community partners. Submission to scientific journals Communications, American Journal of Health Promotion, Tobacco Control, and other scientific periodicals to disseminate findings including Quitxt text messaging and chat development and implementation and report experimental results based on follow-up assessments. Via the Institute for Health Promotion Research home website; its institutional e-newsletters; and its Salud America! (SA!) national network.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Patricia Chalela, DrPH principal investigator
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Quitxt text messaging or Chat in people with Smoking Cessation, run by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 10 inclusion and 5 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 31 Mar 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Patricia Chalela, DrPH ((210) 562-6513, chalela@uthscsa.edu), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Smoking cessation (time frame: 6 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 31 Mar 2026.