The modification of smoking behavior: A search for effective variables (original) (raw)

The modification of smoking behavior: Progress and problems

Addictive Behaviors, 1976

A review of recent controlled, experimental research on the modification of cigarette smoking behavior led to conclusions that (a) activity in the field is still vigorous, (b) some progress in terms of treatment effectiveness, research methodology, and target conceptualizations has been made during the past 6 yr, particularly by those adopting a social-learning approach, and (c)certain methodological and conceptual problems remain and must be eliminated if knowledge in the area is to continue to advance. 89 A.B. Vol. I, No ?-A *The general public may have reached this conclusion as well. A recent poll (Gallup, 1974) indicated that only 34% of smokers wishing to quit are interested in attending a clinic. The majority seem to prefer a "do-it-yourself" program (Schwartz & Dubitzky. 1968).

Response to social stress, urge to smoke, and smoking cessation

Addictive Behaviors, 2002

Motivational theories of drug use have assigned negative affect a central role in determining drug urges and drug relapse. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of social stress on smoking urges in a controlled laboratory setting, and the relation of these responses to short-term (3-month) smoking cessation outcomes. Prior to a clinic-based smoking cessation program, 76 (64% female) smokers were assessed for their affective, cognitive, and physiological responses during the Borkovec social anxiety induction procedure. These responses were used to predict smoking urges immediately after the procedure and to predict abstinence at 3-month follow-up posttreatment. As expected, during the induction, urge to smoke was positively associated with anxiety ratings and negatively associated with self-efficacy to resist smoking. However, only heart rate increase and behavioral social skill (observed by independent judges) predicted smoking abstinence at 3 months. These results suggest that subjective affective and efficacy responses during a stressful social encounter are associated with smoking urges; however, urges and these responses may be related in different ways to the probability of smoking cessation.

Smoke reduction and cessation with psychological interventions: A randomized clinical trial

2013

The purpose of our research is to investigate the effectiveness of three types of psychological interventions in both the prevention (Study 1) and treatment (Study 2) of tobacco addiction. Both studies implied a pragmatic parallel-group research design, participants being randomly allocated in one of the three arms of the study in an unblinded manner. The first study consists of 62 occasional, adolescent smokers who were selected according to the criteria proposed and tested in The Framingham Study (Gordon et al., 1975). They were randomly allocated to receive either: (a) an informative intervention; (b) an action and coping planning intervention; (c) an intervention that combined the two aforementioned types in tobacco smoking cessation or (d) a passive control group. Our second study was conducted on a sample of 62 participants who were addicted to cigarette smoking (according to Gordon et al., 1975 and to the DSM IV-R criteria – APA, 2000) between the ages of 23-25 and was aimed ...

The indirect effect of evaluative conditioning on smoking

Dual-process theories can account for the difficulties smokers encounter in their attempt to cease or at least to decrease their smoking consumption. The aim of this study was to test the indirect effect of an evaluative conditioning intervention on reducing the smoking behavior through the serial mediation of implicit and explicit attitudes. Fifty-five smoking addicted students were randomly assigned in two experimental conditions: positively versus negatively conditioned towards smoking related stimuli. The results support the indirect effect. The intervention affects implicit attitudes towards smoking, this leads to changes in explicit attitudes, which finally affects the self-reported smoking behavior in the expected direction (e.g. negative conditioning decreases self-reported smoking consumption).

Journal of Substance Use The indirect effect of evaluative conditioning on smoking

Dual-process theories can account for the difficulties smokers encounter in their attempt to cease or at least to decrease their smoking consumption. The aim of this study was to test the indirect effect of an evaluative conditioning intervention on reducing the smoking behavior through the serial mediation of implicit and explicit attitudes. Fifty-five smoking addicted students were randomly assigned in two experimental conditions: positively versus negatively conditioned towards smoking related stimuli. The results support the indirect effect. The intervention affects implicit attitudes towards smoking, this leads to changes in explicit attitudes, which finally affects the self-reported smoking behavior in the expected direction (e.g. negative conditioning decreases self-reported smoking consumption).

Motivational Benefits of Social Support and Behavioural Interventions for Smoking Cessation

Journal of Smoking Cessation, 2018

This study examined the role of social support and behavioural interventions used during the last unsuccessful quit attempt for smokers’ intentions to quit smoking within the next six months, and identified smokers’ attributes associated with the use of social support and behavioural interventions. The analytic sample included 7,195 adult daily smokers who responded to the 2010–2011 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey, conducted in the United States, and indicated having a serious quit attempt in the past 12 months. Smokers who relied on social support from friends and family had higher odds of intending to quit than those who did not (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.22:1.58), and smokers who used interventions had higher odds of intending to quit than those who did not (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.07:1.74). These associations were similar for both sexes, all age groups, and nicotine dependence levels. Both, relying on social support and the use of behavioural interventions were...

Helping smokers to decide on the use of efficacious smoking cessation methods: a randomized controlled trial of a decision aid

Addiction, 2006

Aims Most smokers attempt to stop smoking without using help. We evaluated the efficacy of a decision aid to motivate quitters to use efficacious treatment. Setting and participants A total of 1014 were recruited from a convenience sample of 3391 smokers who intended to quit smoking within 6 months. Design and intervention Smokers were assigned randomly to either receive the decision aid or no intervention. The decision aid was expected to motivate quitters to use efficacious cessation methods and contained neutral information on treatment methods, distinguishing between efficacious and non-efficacious treatments. Measurements Baseline questionnaire and follow-ups were used 2 weeks and 6 months after the start of the intervention. Findings The decision aid increased knowledge of cessation methods and induced a more positive attitude towards these methods. Furthermore, 45% reported increased confidence about being able to quit and 43% said it helped them to choose between treatments. However, no clear effect on usage of treatment aids was found, but the intervention group had more quit attempts (OR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.14-2.02) and higher point prevalence abstinence at 6-month follow-up (20.2% versus 13.6%; OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.07-2.11). Conclusions An aid to help smokers decide to use efficacious treatment when attempting to quit smoking had a positive effect on smoking cessation, while failing to increase the usage of efficacious treatment. This finding lends support to the notion that the mere promotion of efficacious treatments for tobacco addiction might increase the number of quit attempts, irrespective of the actual usage of treatment.

An extended version of the theory of planned behavour: Prediction of intentions to quit smoking using past behaviour as moderator

Addiction Research & Theory, 2010

It was hypothesised that: (i) intentions to quit smoking were predictable from group identity, self-identity, moral norms and past quit attempts, beyond the components of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and (ii) that past experiences with the behaviour (quit attempts) would increase the predictive utility of the extended TPB model on intentions. The data was collected among 357 daily smoking students (M ¼ 24 years). The TPB components accounted for 12.3% of the variance in quitting intentions, while the extension variables added 16.5% to the explained variance in intentions beyond the impact of the TPB. Past behaviour had the strongest impact on intentions ( ¼ 0.30), followed by moral norms ( ¼ 0.25), perceived behavioural control (PBC, ¼ 0.20), attitude ( ¼ 0.18) and group commitment ( ¼ À0.11). By splitting the sample into three categories of past quit attempts the picture changed, revealing that the predictive utility of the TPB increased with the number of quit attempts (no past quit attempt, R 2 ¼ 1%, ns and several past quit attempts, R 2 ¼ 12.3%, p < 0.001). Moreover, PBC and group commitment were significantly stronger predictors of intention among those who had several previous quit attempts compared with those who never had tried to quit smoking. The extended TPB model explained 1% and 28% of the variance in intentions among those with no and several previous quit attempts, respectively. The practical implications of these results for the development of interventions to encourage smokers to quit smoking are outlined.

Mediating factors in the modification of smoking behavior

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 1983

This study was designed to investigate two personality variables that may influence the effectiveness of covert sensitization in reducing smoking behavior. These are GSR reactivity to stressors and GSR adaptation to repeated stressors. It was predicted that both high reactivity and nonadaptivity to stressors would facilitate covert sensitization therapy. Fiftynine subjects underwent treatment and were followed up at 3,6 and 12 week intervals. Subjects were distributed among four groups: A. High reactors, nonadaptive (15); B. High reactors, adaptive (14); C. Low reactors, nonadaptive (9); D. Low reactors, adaptive (21). The results demonstrate that the measure of reactivity to stressors is significantly related to the success of the treatment, but the relevance of the measure of adaptivity factor was not demonstrated.