title: Mindfulness-based interventions for the treatment of smoking: a systematic literature review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Smoking is a chronic process in which craving and negative affect are considered the main barriers to maintaining abstinence in patients who have gone through treatment. Mindfulness-based interventions have presented encouraging preliminary results in follow-up lasting up to 6 months. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic literature review on the effects of mindfulness-based interventions for the treatment of smoking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of 198 articles on mindfulness and smoking, 13 controlled empirical studies were selected for the analysis. The search included papers published through April 14, 2014. The databases used were Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Scopus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Scientific interest on mindfulness-based interventions for the treatment of smoking has increased over the past decade. All articles reported promising results, especially for smoking cessation, relapse prevention, number of cigarettes smoked, the moderation of mindfulness on the strength of relationship between craving and smoking, and the development of coping strategies to deal with triggers to smoke. Most of the articles corresponded to pilot or feasibility randomized controlled trials with low risk of bias regarding random sequence generation, attrition, and reporting. However, few articles reported sufficient data on selection, performance, and detection bias.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mindfulness appears to induce positive effects on mental health, which might contribute to the maintenance of tobacco abstinence. Despite the promising results regarding the responses of tobacco smokers to mindfulness-based interventions, additional well-designed clinical studies are needed.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychobiology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo , São Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Isabel Cristina Weiss
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: Viviam Vargas
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: de Barros
authors.forename: Henrique Pinto
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Gomide
authors.forename: Tassiana Cristina Mendes
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.forename: Vinícius de Paula
authors.initials: Vde P
authors.lastname: Menezes
authors.forename: Elisa Harumi
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Kozasa
authors.forename: Ana Regina
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Noto
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D064866:Mindfulness / Q000379:methods*; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology*