The parent R34 grant was a Stage I treatment development grant to develop and pilot test a Facebook (FB) intervention for Alaska Native (AN) smokers statewide. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual options, such as social media, became more important than ever, holding promise as sustainable and scalable intervention strategies to promote access to smoking cessation treatment among AN people and other vulnerable and underserved health disparity groups who experienced a disproportionate burden of tobacco-related morbidity/mortality and who were also disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

This project adapted and evaluated the perceived effectiveness of new content for the FB intervention relevant to COVID-19 and smoking, using a rigorous participatory approach, as had been done in developing other content. Data were also collected on self-reported impacts of COVID-19 on outcomes of treatment utilization and cessation within the ongoing pilot clinical trial.

Expanding FB intervention content to address COVID-19 and evaluating COVID-19 impacts within the parent R34 grant was timely and significant. This work provided the foundation for a larger Stage II efficacy trial.