Positive Affect as a Predictor of Smoking Cessation and Relapse: Does It Offer Unique Predictive Value among Depressive Symptom Domains?

Abstract

With the exception of PA, all of the CES-D domains predicted reduced likelihood of smoking abstinence at end of treatment and cotinine-confirmed (but not self-reported) abstinence at 6 months, as did total CES-D score (all p-values < .05). None of the symptom domains predicted relapse. Conclusions/Importance: Our results provide further evidence that current depressive symptoms predict worse cessation outcomes, but they fail to support recent work suggesting that low PA has incremental predictive value for cessation or relapse beyond the other depressive symptom domains. To improve quit rates for smokers with depressive symptoms, evidence-based mood management interventions should be included in treatment planning.

Positive psychotherapy for smoking cessation enhanced with text messaging: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…PA is distinct from negative affect both conceptually and empirically [48]. Some studies have suggested that low PA prior to smoking cessation treatment may have a unique association with poor smoking outcomes independent of depressive symptoms [4], although a recent study did not support this conclusion [49]. Both reductions in PA leading up to quit date and low PA after quitting have been implicated in smoking relapse [5, 50].…”

A simple test to assess the emotional status of smokers

“…The numerous evidences in the literature pointing to an important role for Anxiety and Depression in tobacco addiction corroborate the findings of this study, and are additional justifications for incorporation of such elements into SET. [22][23][24][25][26][27] The factor Attachment to Cigarettes derived from the measurement Affiliative Attachment, a constituent of scales developed to characterize reasons for smoking. 16,28 In addition, there are suggestions that smokers can anthropomorphize cigarettes and see them as companions in response to loneliness, using them to meet social needs.…”

A Behavioral Activation Mobile Health App for Smokers With Depression: Development and Pilot Evaluation in a Single-Arm Trial

“…Novel interventions are needed to target the key factors that maintain smoking, including depressive symptoms, which are present in 40% to 55% of treatment-seeking smokers [4,5]. Depressive symptoms at the time of a quit attempt, including high negative affect (ie, aversive internal states such as anxiety or sadness) and low positive affect (ie, reduced experience of pleasure or enthusiasm), reduce the odds of smoking cessation by as much as 50% [4,6-8]. Failure to address depressive symptomatology as a barrier to quitting is a significant problem with the current standard treatment approach.…”

“…At present, BAT-D–based smoking cessation interventions have solely been tested as a face-to-face treatment, which would reach only 4% to 6% of smokers in the United States based on current use of the traditional treatment modalities of individual and group counseling [3,14,15]. We developed a BAT-D mobile health (mHealth) app for smoking cessation to extend the reach of this promising intervention to the estimated 13 to 16 million smokers with smartphones who have depressive symptoms [8,15-17], the vast majority of whom will not seek face-to-face counseling. BAT-D is a promising treatment approach for a targeted mHealth smoking cessation intervention because it has shown promise helping smokers with depressive symptoms quit smoking in the face-to-face format [9,13], its components are well suited to translation into an app (eg, scheduling valued activities and tracking their completion), and it has a strong foundation in behavioral theory [11].…”