A Survey of Smoking Policies in Oregon Psychiatric Facilities

What Is the Clinical Importance of Cigarette Smoking in Schizophrenia?

“…This practice may not only help to calm patients, but it represents a way to alleviate boredom. Cigarettes have also been used as behavioral reinforcers, particularly in inpatient settings, and they have long constituted an important source of reward in token economies 59,60 …”

Smoking and schizophrenia

“…This 'treatment' was related to problems with careless smoking and fire-setting rather than any desire on the patients' part to stop smoking. Resnick & Bosworth (1988), in a survey of smoking policies in 48 wards in Oregon psychiatric facilities, found no formal programme in any psychiatric hospital for management of withdrawal for patients wanting to stop smoking. However, half of the settings indicated that they had an informal policy of using cigarettes as reinforcers or rewards.…”

The Effect of a Restricted Smoking Policy on Motivation to Quit Smoking in Psychiatric Patients

“…[ Until recently, many psychiatric units used cigarettes as reinforcers for patients who smoked. 1 Increasingly, however, inpatient psychiatric units are adopting restricted smoking policies or complete smoking bans. Initially, many feared that such policies would create management problems in terms of both enforcing such policies and coping with increased hostility and aggression on the part of patients denied the opportunity to smoke.…”