Background:
Smoking tobacco poses a serious risk of early preventable death and disease for women living with socioeconomic disadvantage (SED). ‘We Can Quit' (WCQ) was a community-based smoking cessation programme tailored to women living in SED areas developed in Ireland, which comprised group behavioural support delivered by trained lay local women and free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The intervention was pilot tested in a cluster randomised controlled trial, ‘We Can Quit 2'. Qualitative results of an embedded process evaluation are presented here.

Objectives:
To assess feasibility and acceptability of the WCQ programme components and trial-related processes among participants and community facilitators (CFs) who delivered the programme.

Methods:
The design was qualitative. The Medical Research Council's (MRC) process evaluation framework was followed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted after programme delivery with intervention participants (18/50) and CFs (N=8). An inductive approach was used, and data were analysed using thematic coding.

Results:
Peer-modelling, a non-judgemental environment, and CFs supportive role were viewed as facilitative elements. The experience of being part of the group increased participants' skills, self-efficacy and support to maintain smoking abstinence. Participants reported free NRT as helpful for cessation. Some participants expressed concerns about NRT side effects. Community pharmacists provided important guidance relating to NRT and additional support between group sessions. Provision of saliva samples proved challenging. Participants' low literacy was a barrier to engagement with the programme and with trial-related materials. Hypothetical scenarios of direct or indirect observational fidelity assessment for a future definitive trial (DT) were acceptable.

Conclusions:
Programme and trial-related processes were feasible and acceptable to intervention participants and facilitators, though low literacy was a barrier to retention. A future DT will need to comprehensively address this. The MRC framework proved useful to capture the experience of women smokers in SED areas of engaging with a community-based stop-smoking trial.