title: Telephone-guided placement and removal of nicotine monitors for the assessment of passive exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of telephone-guided placement of nicotine air sampling monitors in homes of women with infants. A monitor was mailed to homes in which the mother, her partner, or both were smokers, and a research assistant telephoned the woman and guided her through proper placement of the monitor according to a standard protocol. To assess the success of the guided placement, research assistants visited the homes of 50 women at the end of the two-week air-sampling period. The placement was determined to be correct if the monitor was positioned at least 1 ft from windows, more than 1 ft from the nearest corner of the room, and more than 2 ft from ashtrays. We had a 94% success rate for monitor placement in our study population, and our cost assessment showed that guided placement and removal cost approximately one-tenth the amount of methods requiring research assistants to conduct placements onsite. These results suggest that telephone-guided placement of monitors is an acceptable, inexpensive alternative to onsite placement by research assistants.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77225, USA.
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Hudmon
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Mullen
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nicol
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Sockrider
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sajak
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000191:economics; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009538:Nicotine / Q000032:analysis*; D013689:Telephone; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution; D009538:Nicotine