Housing evidence / case study · working draft
Nottingham: Smoke Free Homes trial
A randomised study in deprived communities tested practical support to reduce children's smoke exposure at home.
01 / THE APPROACH
What was tried
The Nottingham Smoke Free Homes trial supported families where the main carer smoked indoors and a child under five lived at home. It recruited 205 households from deprived communities, including through children's centres. Taking part did not require the adult to be ready to stop smoking altogether.
Advisers visited homes, discussed practical changes and showed families personalised air-quality readings. Nicotine replacement therapy could help carers manage periods without smoking inside. This combined support was compared with usual smoke-free-home advice over twelve weeks.
02 / THE FINDINGS
What was learned
Airborne fine-particle levels fell more in intervention homes than in the usual-care group; the trial reported a 35.2% greater reduction. Children's saliva measures of smoke exposure and several measures of smoking behaviour also improved.
The findings concern reducing children's exposure, rather than a verified long-term quit rate. The practical feature was making an invisible household risk visible while offering support to act on it.
03 / TRANSFER TO WALES
What Wales could learn
Advisers brought air-quality feedback, practical conversations and temporary-abstinence support into families' homes. Recruitment through children's centres helped connect the work with everyday family services.
This required home visits, monitoring equipment and treatment access. The result concerns children's smoke exposure, with short follow-up rather than evidence of durable quitting.
Sources & review
Public trial publication with full PDF; ISRCTN81701383. Economic evaluation is openly available at PMC6234564. Primary trial and registration checked.
