The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of a CBT-based smoking cessation treatment enhanced with transdiagnostic skills for the management of anxiety and fear-based avoidance behaviors (CBT-A) relative to a standard CBT-based smoking cessation treatment (CBT-S) for smokers with elevated PTSD symptoms who were exposed to the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster. The investigators hypothesized that the CBT-A treatment would yield more favorable outcomes with regard to smoking abstinence as well as improvements in PTSD and respiratory symptoms over a 6-month follow-up period.
Respiratory illness and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are the primary health sequelae of the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster on September 11th 2001 and are often comorbid. Cigarette smoking is a modifiable health behavior associated with both lower respiratory symptoms (LRS) and PTSD. Smoking cessation programs are considered the crucial front-line intervention for smokers with pulmonary problems. Unfortunately, trauma exposed smokers with elevated PTSD symptoms have greater difficulty quitting, are more likely to fail standard cessation programs, and are more likely to relapse than smokers with other anxiety disorders and those without mental illness. Interventions that concurrently target mechanisms thought to maintain the comorbidity between PTSD and LRS (e.g., anxious reactivity to nicotine withdrawal, smoking to reduce negative affect) may offer a means of improving smoking quit rates in trauma exposed populations. Thus, the purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of a combined CBT smoking cessation treatment enhanced with transdiagnostic skills for the management of anxiety and fear-based avoidance behaviors (CBT-A). The investigators randomized 90 WTC disaster exposed daily smokers with elevated PTSD symptoms to either CBT-A (N=44) or a standard CBT-based smoking cessation program (CBT-S; N=46). Participants were followed up to six months post-treatment.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
90
CBT-A was an 8-session (1.5 hours/session) group treatment for quitting smoking comprised of an optimized protocol that incorporated all elements of the CBT-S treatment plus skills for reducing PTSD/anxiety symptoms and improving tolerance to withdrawal. The CBT-A intervention included skills based on a transdiagnostic approach: (1) repeated interoceptive exposures to feared bodily sensations (e.g., dizziness, racing heart); (2) corrective information about anxiety and cognitive restructuring of catastrophic misinterpretations of somatic sensations (e.g., "I will lose control."); and (3) use of graduated in-vivo exposure to feared and avoided situational experiences related to anxiety, WTC-related PTSD triggers, and smoking (e.g., going to lower Manhattan; driving without smoking).
CBT-S was an adapted group-based CBT smoking cessation treatment delivered in 8 sessions (1.5 hours/session) based on the most recent clinical practice guidelines from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS), Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence. Standard cessation elements included psychoeducation on reasons for smoking and barriers to quitting, enlisting social support, monitoring and tapering cigarette use, and counseling regarding high-risk smoking situations and unhelpful ways of thinking about smoking and abstinence. The treatment was similar to protocols used in other smoking cessation research.
Stony Brook University, Putnam Hall
Stony Brook, New York, United States
Session 8 7-day point prevalence cigarette abstinence
A dichotomized outcome (yes/no) configured based on biochemically verified 7 day smoking abstinence via Saliva cotinine (cutoff value of 10 ng/ml) and carbon monoxide (CO) analysis of breath samples with a Vitalograph Breathco CO monitor.
Time frame: Session 8: on average 2 weeks post-quit day
6-month Follow-up 7-day point prevalence cigarette abstinence
A dichotomized outcome (yes/no) configured based on biochemically verified 7 day smoking abstinence via Saliva cotinine (cutoff value of 10 ng/ml) and carbon monoxide (CO) analysis of breath samples with a Vitalograph Breathco CO monitor.
Time frame: 6-month follow-up
Change in WTC related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms
Assessed via self-report (PTSD Checklist Specific Stressor; PCL-S)
Time frame: Baseline and 2-weeks post-quit attempt
6-month change in WTC related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms
Assessed via self-report (PTSD Checklist Specific Stressor; PCL-S)
Time frame: Baseline and 6-month follow-up
Change in lower respiratory symptoms
Assessed via self-report
Time frame: Baseline and 2-weeks post-quit attempt
6-month change in lower respiratory symptoms
Assessed via self-report
Time frame: Baseline and 6-month follow-up
Change in average daily cigarettes smoked
Average number of cigarettes smoke per day in the past 7 days assessed via Time Line Follow-Back (TLFB) for Daily Cigarette Use
Time frame: Baseline and 2-weeks post-quit attempt
6-month change in average daily cigarettes smoked
Average number of cigarettes smoke per day in the past 7 days assessed via Time Line Follow-Back (TLFB) for Daily Cigarette Use
Time frame: Baseline and 6-month follow-up
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