The TABOH project officially began its activity on Friday, February 27, with an inaugural meeting held at the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO). The event brought together representatives from all the institutions participating in the initiative: the ICO, the 061 Salut Respon service, the Public Health Agency of Catalonia, the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, the University of Lleida, and the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (semFYC).
Funded under the AES (FIS 2025) call, the project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated brief intervention to help people quit smoking and reduce alcohol consumption. It is targeted at individuals who use both substances and who contact 061 Salut Respon for non-urgent reasons. The project will be carried out through a randomized controlled trial, which includes designing a brief intervention with a motivational approach, implementing it through the 061 phone service, and assessing both outcomes and participant satisfaction.
The meeting, coordinated by Dr. Cristina Martínez (ICO), served to introduce the multidisciplinary team leading the project, made up of professionals in medicine, nursing, psychology, statistics, and engineering. During the session, the team reviewed the study’s context, objectives, and methodology. The gathering also helped define initial work plans and distribute tasks among the various teams. Additionally, upcoming meetings were scheduled for the groups responsible for designing the intervention, selecting evaluation tools, developing the software, and carrying out the trial.
The TABOH project represents an innovative approach in public health, taking advantage of the opportunity provided by non-urgent calls to 061 to promote brief interventions aimed at improving population health.
