Personalized Feedback for Smoking and Anxiety Sensitivity: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disability globally. Most smokers want to quit, and most make a serious quit attempt each year. Nevertheless, more than 95% of cessation attempters relapse within six months. Thus, alternative interventions are needed to combat this major public health concern. Objective: The current study was conducted to develop and test a smoking treatment among 95 (63.2% male; M_age = 46.20 years, SD = 10.90) adult daily cigarette smokers that targets a known risk factor for smoking maintenance and relapse: anxiety sensitivity (AS). Methods: The current study employed a randomized controlled trial design to test an integrated, brief, computer-delivered smoking and AS intervention among current, daily smokers. Participants completed four appointments: (a) phone-screener; (b) baseline (pre-intervention assessment, intervention [personalized feedback intervention (PFI) versus smoking information control], and post-intervention assessment); (c) 2-week follow-up; and (d) 4-week follow-up. Results: Participants indicated highly positive evaluations of both the PFI and control intervention. Between the baseline and 2-week follow-up, 44.2% [PFI: 46.9% (n = 23); control: 41.3% (n = 19)] of participants reported a quit attempt. At the 4-week follow-up, 49.5% [PFI: 57.1% (n = 28); control: 41.3% (n = 19)] of participants reported a quit attempt since their previous laboratory session. Conclusion: Within the context of an intervention development approach, the present investigation provides descriptive data on the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of a single-session, computer-delivered, AS/smoking PFI.

Keywords:

• Personalized feedback intervention
• tobacco
• anxiety sensitivity
• computer-delivered intervention
• cessation

Disclosure of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Notes

1 A latent growth curve model also indicated no significant change in AS from post-intervention to 4-week follow-up (β = .80, p = .72).

2 AS and negative affect at 2- and 4-week follow-up were examined as competing mediators of intervention effects on quit attempt at 2- and 4-week follow-up, respectively, controlling for baseline AS. Neither AS nor negative affect mediated the relation between intervention and quit attempts at either follow-up.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported in part by Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS) award U54CA180908 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and grant K24DA048160 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).