Exploring stakeholder views on intervening in hospital around childhood secondhand smoke exposure (Precedent): a protocol for a qualitative study

Introduction: Secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe) in childhood is linked with increased morbidity and mortality. Hospital or secondary care contact may present a ‘teachable moment’ to provide parents with support to change their home smoking behaviours to reduce children’s SHSe. There is a lack of robust qualitative evidence around parents and healthcare professionals (HCPs) views on using this teachable moment to successfully initiate behavioural change. We aim to identify and understand what is important to stakeholders with a view to informing the development of a support package to help parents change their home smoking behaviours.

Methods and analysis: This qualitative study will be theoretically underpinned by the Capability, Opportunity and Motivation Behaviour (COM-B) model of behavioural change. It will involve semistructured interviews and/or discussion groups with up to 20 parents who smoke and up to 25 HCPs. Stakeholders will be recruited from a single National Health Service children’s hospital in England. Interviews and/or discussion groups will be audio recorded, transcribed and anonymised. The transcripts and any field notes will be analysed using the framework method. Initially, we will apply COM-B to the data deductively and will then code inductively within each domain.

Ethics and dissemination: The protocol for this study received a favourable outcome from the East Midlands Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee (19/EM/0171). Results will be written up as part of a PhD thesis, submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and presentation at conferences.