title: Acceptance and commitment therapy for smoking cessation: a preliminary study of its effectiveness in comparison with cognitive behavioral therapy.
abstract: This controlled preliminary trial determined the feasibility and initial effectiveness of a promising behavioral intervention for smoking: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). In a quasi-experimental design, the ACT intervention condition used metaphors and experiential exercises focused on personal values to motivate quitting smoking and enhancing the willingness to experience internal cues to smoke (e.g., urges) and abstinence-related internal distress. The comparison condition was cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)--the current standard in behavioral intervention for smoking cessation. Each treatment was delivered in seven weekly 90-min sessions in a group format to 81 (43 in ACT; 38 in CBT) adult smokers. Results show that the ACT treatment was as feasible as the CBT treatment. They also demonstrate promising evidence of ACT's effectiveness: 30.2% intent-to-treat biochemically-supported 30-day point prevalence at twelve month follow-up, compared with 13.2% in the CBT condition (odds ratio = 5.13; p = .02). Replication in a well-powered, randomized, controlled trial is now needed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluación y Tratamiento Psicológicos, Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain. mhlopez@ujaen.es
authors.forename: Mónica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernández-López
authors.forename: M Carmen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Luciano
authors.forename: Jonathan B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Bricker
authors.forename: Jesús G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Roales-Nieto
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Montesinos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D016017:Odds Ratio; D018579:Patient Selection; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012044:Regression Analysis; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome