Breland, A.B., Almond, L., Kienzle, J., Ondersma, S.J., Hart, A.J., Weaver, M., Dillon, P., & Svikis, D. (2014). Targeting tobacco in a community-based addiction recovery cohort: Results from a clinical trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 38(1), 113-120. PMID: 24721481.
Although smoking is highly prevalent among individuals in recovery from substance abuse, few addiction treatment programs offer smoking cessation programs. Therefore, the authors conducted a pilot randomized controlled trial of a computerized smoking cessation intervention designed for individuals in recovery. One-hundred fifty current smokers were recruited from a recovery community organization. Participants were randomly assigned to receive a computerized brief motivational intervention (C-BMI) for smoking, or to receive only information on smoking cessation. Any participants interested in nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) were additionally prescribed 10 weeks of NRT after the baseline assessment. Self-reported smoking outcomes and expired air carbon monoxide were measured at before the completion of C-BMI, and again at 4 and 10 week follow-ups. When comparing the C-BMI group and the information only group, no differences in self-reported rates of abstinence or expired air carbon monoxide were found at either follow-up. More participants in the C-BMI group were interested in quitting smoking. Results also showed that participants who obtained nicotine replacement therapy at baseline reported smoking fewer cigarettes at both follow-ups, regardless of randomization.