Smoking cessation group attendance in a substance use disorder clinic: a look at contingency management and other factors to maximize engagement

ABSTRACT

Contingency management (CM) has emerged as an intervention that can increase smoking quit rates; however, CM has only been tested for reinforcing abstinence for nicotine. This quality improvement project examined the impact of adding CM for attendance to an existing substance use disorder (SUD) clinic group smoking cessation intervention (GSCI), as well as predictors of attendance. After adjustment for covariates, linear regressions compared groups on total and maximum consecutive sessions attended but no differences were observed. Older age, prescriptions for any smoking cessation medication, and longer durations in SUD treatment were associated with greater maximum consecutive sessions attended. Given limited time and resources in busy outpatient SUD clinics, it may be more impactful to focus efforts on engaging patients in the use of cessation medications while offering a group smoking cessation program.

KEYWORDS:

• Attendance
• contingency management
• predictors
• smoking cessation
• substance use disorder
• veterans

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.