Brief Intervention for Smokers: Cue Reactivity & Smoking

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Smoking remains among the major preventable causes of death in our society. Despite the recent proliferation of pharmaceutical and behavioral methods for smoking cessation, approximately one out of every four adults continues to smoke. Unfortunately, the majority of smokers appear to have low motivation for quitting at any given time. Although current guidelines from the U.S. Public Health Service recommend that brief interventions be provided to all smokers who are not currently motivated to quit, the effectiveness of brief interventions have not been well established, and research has not elucidated mechanisms whereby brief interventions may exert change in smoking behavior. The primary aim of this Stage Ia exploratory/developmental (R21) research is to examine specific cognitive/affective mediators of smoking behavior following a brief 'priming' intervention delivered to low-motivated smokers. Phase I will refine a brief computer-tailored 'Smoking-Related Priming' (SRP) intervention by incorporating feedback from a group (n=20) of low-motivated smokers. Phase II will comprise a clinical laboratory study (n=105) to evaluate the theoretically-derived prediction that SRP will increase negative affect (e.g., approach-avoidance conflict, cognitive dissonance) and arousal elicited by smoking cues, and that these cognitive/affective reactions will mediate effects of the intervention on acute smoking behavior. In this study, SRP will be compared with 'Nutrition-Related Priming' and 'No Priming' conditions. A secondary aim is to determine if physiological arousal during specific components of SRP is related to smoking behavior following the intervention. Overall, this project will lay the groundwork for future exploratory research (Stage Ib) that will continue to evaluate relationships between brief intervention for low-motivated smokers and relevant smoking outcomes. Ultimately, the information obtained via this program of research will be used to maximize the efficacy of brief interventions (Stage II) that can be widely disseminated to low-motivated smokers in community settings (Stage III).