The Wisconsin Predicting Patients' Relapse questionnaire.
BACKGROUND
Relapse is the most common smoking cessation outcome. Accurate prediction of relapse likelihood could be an important clinical tool used to influence treatment selection or duration. The aim of this research was to develop a brief clinical relapse proneness questionnaire to be used with smokers interested in quitting in a clinical setting where time is at a premium.


METHODS
Diverse items assessing constructs shown in previous research to be related to relapse risk, such as nicotine dependence and self-efficacy, were evaluated to determine their independent contributions to relapse prediction. In an exploratory dataset, candidate items were assessed among smokers motivated to quit smoking who enrolled in one of three randomized controlled smoking cessation trials. A cross-validation dataset was used to compare the relative predictive power of the new instrument against the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) at 1-week, 8-week, and 6-month postquit assessments.


RESULTS
We selected seven items with relatively nonoverlapping content for the Wisconsin Predicting Patient's Relapse (WI-PREPARE) measure, a brief, seven-item questionnaire that taps physical dependence, environmental factors, and individual difference characteristics. Cross-validation analyses suggested that the WI-PREPARE demonstrated a stronger prediction of relapse at 1-week and 8-week postquit assessments than the FTND and comparable prediction to the FTND at a 6-month postquit assessment.


CONCLUSIONS
The WI-PREPARE is easy to score, suggests the nature of a patient's relapse risk, and predicts short- and medium-term relapse better than the FTND.
Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, WI 53711, USA.
Daniel M
DM
Bolt
Megan E
ME
Piper
Danielle E
DE
McCarthy
Sandra J
SJ
Japuntich
Michael C
MC
Fiore
Stevens S
SS
Smith
Timothy B
TB
Baker
D000328:Adult; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015990:Placebo Effect; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014922:Wisconsin