Introduction:
To reduce tobacco-related health disparities among Portuguese with substance use disorders (SUD), by training treatment providers and developing a select cadre of advocates—Champions—within the Portuguese SUD treatment system. The project will specifically target the providers and clients of Integrated Response Centers (Centros de Resposta Integrada-CRI) in Portugal.

Material and Methods:
We aim to directly train 150 professionals involved in SUD treatment in 15 CRI units, with an average of 10 professionals per unit. In addition, we are going to develop 15 Champions (1 per CRI unit) among these 150 professionals, to advocate for effective tobacco control policy for SUD patients, and also for the general population. We estimate that our intervention can benefit approximately 16,416 smokers, among those who searched for treatment for another SUD in CRI units. The planned project consists on (i) Basic training and (ii) Champion development. We are going to offer training utilizing the peer credibility and capacity of the CRI and the expertise of the Clima Clinic. We will also search for and make use of key stakeholders and peer leaders from the CRI to broaden information distribution and follow-up avenues; expand expertise; and maximize data collection capability.

Assessment:
Our evaluation design will use Moore’s analytic framework to assess learning outcomes. Following this rationale, we plan to collect data from (i) Champions, (ii) other members of the clinical staff and (iii) CRI units (aggregated individual data), using the first five Moore’s levels: ‘Participation’; ‘Satisfaction’; ‘Learning – Knowledge’; ‘Learning – Competence’; and ‘Performance’.

Funding:
This project (PI: Dr. Castaldelli-Maia) receives a Pfizer Independent Grant for Learning and Change (IGLC) managed by Global Bridges (Healthcare Alliance for Tobacco Dependence Treatment) hosted at the Mayo Clinic, to support free smoking cessation treatment training in addiction/mental health care units in Portugal (grant IGLC 25629313).