Loading…

Protocol - Amount, Type, and Frequency of Recent Use of Nicotine Products

Add to My Toolkit
Description

The TLFB (Timeline Followback) protocol can be used to track use of single or multiple products. It traditionally tracks cigarette use for 30 days and has also been used for marijuana, alcohol and other drugs. The TLFB can be administered by an interviewer, self-administered, or administered by computer. It involves asking clients to retrospectively estimate their tobacco use 7 days to 2 years prior to the interview date. For cigarettes, individuals are asked to estimate the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

Specific Instructions

Select the appropriate calendar.

To assess use in every day and someday smokers in a range of 14-30 days, insert the number of days you wish to assess in the protocol.

Although this question only asks about the use of cigarettes, the Biobehavioral Working Group feels that these questions can be asked about other tobacco products. When asking about multiple products, this protocol can identify co-occurring use of tobacco products. Specify each product you are asking about, for example:

Cigarettes: Specify the number of cigarettes you smoked each day

Cigars: Specify the number of premium cigars, large cigars, cigarillos, and little filtered cigars you smoked each day

Pipes: Specify the number of bowls filled with pipe tobacco that were smoked each day

Hookah: Specify the number of sessions in which you smoked hookah each day

E-cigarettes: Specify the number of e-cigarettes, e-cigarette cartridges, or milliliters of e-liquid you used each day (add these up if you used more than one type of e-cigarette product in a given day)

Smokeless tobacco: Specify the number of chews of chewing tobacco, dips of loose snuff, snuff pouches, or snus pouches that you used each day

Dissolvables: Specify the number of pieces of dissolvable tobacco you used each day

Bidis: Specify the number of bidis you smoked each day

Kreteks: Specify the number of kreteks (clove cigarettes from Indonesia) you smoked each day

Oral Nicotine Products: Specify the number of oral nicotine products (e.g., oral nicotine pouches, lozenges, gum, gummies, etc.) you used each day

Heated Tobacco Products: Specify the number of heated tobacco products (e.g., IQOS HeatSticks) you used each day

Availability

Available

Protocol

Instructions for Filling Out the Timeline Cigarette Use Calendar

To help us evaluate your cigarette use, we need to get an idea of what your smoking was like in the past ____ days. To do this, we would like you to fill out the attached calendar.

✓ Filling out the calendar is not hard!

✓ Try to be as accurate as possible.

✓ We recognize you won’t have perfect recall. That’s OKAY.

WHAT TO FILL IN

•The idea is to record how many cigarettes you smoked for each day on the calendar.

•On days when you did not smoke cigarettes, not even one, you should write a "0."

It’s important that something is written for every day, even if it is a 0".

YOUR BEST ESTIMATE

•We realize it isn’t easy to recall things with 100% accuracy.

•If you are not sure whether you smoked 15 or 16 cigarettes or whether you smoked on a Thursday or a Friday, give it your best guess! What is important is that 15 or 16 cigarettes is very different from 1 cigarette. The goal is to get a sense of how frequently you smoked, how much you smoked, and your patterns of smoking.

HELPFUL HINTS

•If you have an appointment book you can use it to help you recall your use.

•Holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas are marked on the calendar to help you recall your smoking. Also, think about how much you smoked on personal holidays & events such as birthdays, vacations, or parties.

•If you have regular patterns to your smoking, you can use these to help you recall your use. For example, some people may only smoke during social situations.

COMPLETING THE CALENDAR

•A blank calendar is attached. Write in the number of cigarettes you smoked on each day.

• The time period we are talking about on the calendar is

from ________________________ to _______________________.

•In estimating the number of cigarettes you smoked, be as accurate as possible.

DOUBLE CHECK THAT ALL DAYS ARE FILLED IN BEFORE RETURNING THE CALENDAR.

• Before you start look at the SAMPLE CALENDAR.

SAMPLE CALENDAR

2000

SUN

MON

TUES

WED

THURS

FRI

SAT

S
E
P
T

1

20

2

0

3

20

4 Labor Day

20

5

23

6

28

7

21

8

20

9

23

10

20

11

20

12

20

13

28

14

25

15

0

16

24

17

20

18

20

19

20

20

20

21

22

22

22

23

24

24

21

25

22

26

26

27

24

28

23

29

0

30

22

Personnel and Training Required

None

Equipment Needs

Calendar

Requirements
Requirement CategoryRequired
Major equipment No
Specialized training No
Specialized requirements for biospecimen collection No
Average time of greater than 15 minutes in an unaffected individual Yes
Mode of Administration

Interviewer-administered questionnaire

Lifestage

Adolescent, Adult

Participants

Adults and adolescents 13 years and over

Selection Rationale

A timeline follow-back provides a validated way to assess an individual’s patterns of tobacco use over extended timeframes.

Language

English

Standards
StandardNameIDSource
Human Phenotype Ontology Triggered by smoking HP:0025223 HPO
caDSR Form PhenX PX720101 - Amount Type And Frequency Of Recent Cigarette Use 6238453 caDSR Form
Derived Variables

None

Process and Review

The Tobacco Regulatory Research (TRR) Content Expert Panel (CEP) reviewed the measures in the Tobacco Regulatory Research collection in February 2024.

Guidance from the TRR CEP includes:

  • Name changed to include all nicotine products rather than just cigarettes
  • Updates to specific instructions, source references, and participant ages

Previous version in Toolkit archive (link)

Protocol Name from Source

The Timeline Followback (TLFB)

Source

Robinson SM, Carter Sobell L, Sobell MB, Leo GI. (2014). Reliability of the Timeline Followback for cocaine, cannabis, and cigarette use. Psychol Addict Behav, 28(1), 154-162. doi: 10.1037/a0030992

Lewis-Esquerre JM, Colby SM, OLeary Tevyaw T, Eaton CA, Kahler CW, Monti PM. (2005). Validation of the timeline follow-back in the assessment of adolescent smoking. Drug Alcohol Depend, 79(1), 33-43. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2004.12.007

General References
None
Protocol ID

720101

Variables
Export Variables
Variable Name Variable IDVariable DescriptiondbGaP Mapping
PX720101_Cigarette_Use_Assessment_Amount
PX720101200000 Assessment of how much smoked, derived from more
the filled out cigarette use calendar show less
Variable Mapping
PX720101_Cigarette_Use_Assessment_Frequency
PX720101400000 Assessment of how frequently smoked, derived more
from the filled out cigarette use calendar show less
Variable Mapping
PX720101_Cigarette_Use_Assessment_Period_Days
PX720101100000 To help us evaluate your cigarette use, we more
need to get an idea of what your smoking was like in the past ____ days. To do this, we would like you to fill out the attached calendar show less
Variable Mapping
PX720101_Cigarette_Use_Assessment_Type
PX720101300000 Assessment of patterns of smoking, derived more
from the filled out cigarette use calendar show less
Variable Mapping
Tobacco Regulatory Research - Host: Biobehavioral
Measure Name

Amount, Type, and Frequency of Recent Use of Nicotine Products

Release Date

February 20, 2015

Definition

The Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB) is a method to assess recent cigarette tobacco use.

Purpose

To measure patterns of a person’s cigarette use. It provides detailed information about frequency and intensity of use.

Keywords

Co-occurring use, timeline follow-back, cigarette use, calendar, patterns of use, smoking, multiple products, TLFB, timeline follow back, frequency, cigarette

Measure Protocols
Protocol ID Protocol Name
720101 Amount, Type, and Frequency of Recent Use of Nicotine Products
Publications

Garcia-Cazarin, M.L., Mandal, R.J., Grana, R., Wanke, K.L., Meissner, H. (2020) Host-agent-vector-environment measures for electronic cigarette research used in NIH grants. Tobacco Control. 2020 January; 29(1). doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-054032

Conway, K. P., et al. (2018) Co-occurrence of tobacco product use, substance use, and mental health problems among youth: Findings from wave 1 (2013-2014) of the population assessment of tobacco and health (PATH) study. Addict Behav. 2018 January; 76: 208-217. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.08.009