Tobacco CessationIntervening to Promote Tobacco Cessation Following Psychiatric Hospitalization

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. People with psychiatric disorders consume almost half (44.3%) of all cigarettes smoked in the U.S. and have life spans more than 20 years shorter than the general population. Effective quit smoking treatments for people with psychiatric disorders are sorely needed.

When patients are hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder, they are not allowed to smoke. This enforced period of no smoking creates what professionals call "a teachable moment". It provides an excellent opportunity to discuss the prospect of staying quit once the individual leaves the hospital.

In ongoing research, the investigators have developed and tested a Sustained Care quit smoking intervention for smokers engaged in a psychiatric hospitalization. The intervention includes: 1) a professionally-led, motivational counseling session to encourage quitting smoking and increase awareness about available quit smoking resources, 2) a referral to the Texas Tobacco Quitline for phone-based, quit smoking counseling, and 3) an offer of 8 weeks of nicotine patches after leaving the hospital. Findings from a recently completed clinical trial provide strong support for this Sustained Care intervention.

Aims in the current project are to develop and test a tablet computer-based, motivational counseling intervention that does not require a trained professional counselor. The goal is to conduct a clinical trial to demonstrate the effectiveness of this tablet-based, Sustained Care intervention for smokers engaged in psychiatric hospitalization. As before, the same quit smoking resources (Quitline and nicotine patches) will be provided upon hospital discharge. If successful, next steps will involve plans to implement this quit smoking intervention in psychiatric hospitals throughout Texas, in order to reduce the burden caused by tobacco-related cancers among the citizens of Texas.