Individuals with schizophrenia are more likely to smoke and less likely to quit smoking than those without schizophrenia. Because task persistence is lower in smokers with than without schizophrenia, it is possible that lower levels of task persistence may contribute to greater difficulties in quitting smoking observed among smokers with schizophrenia.

To develop a feasible and acceptable intervention for smokers with schizophrenia.

Participants (N = 24) attended eight weekly individual cognitive behavioral therapy sessions for tobacco use disorder with a focus on increasing task persistence and received 10 weeks of nicotine patch.

In total, 93.8% of participants rated the intervention as at least a 6 out of 7 regarding how ‘easy to understand’ it was and 81.3% rated the treatment as at least a 6 out of 7 regarding how helpful it was to them. A total of 62.5% attended at least six of the eight sessions and session attendance was positively related to nicotine dependence and age and negatively related to self-efficacy for quitting.

This intervention was feasible and acceptable to smokers with schizophrenia. Future research will examine questions appropriate for later stages of therapy development such as initial efficacy of the intervention and task persistence as a mediator of treatment outcome.

Cigarette smoking is highly prevalent among young people experiencing homelessness, and many of these smokers are motivated to quit. However, there is a lack of readily available cessation services for this population, which is highly mobile and can be challenging to engage in services.

We describe the development of a smoking cessation text messaging intervention (TMI) for homeless youth who are interested in quitting smoking.

Participants were 18–25 years old and recruited from drop-in centers serving homeless youth. Three focus groups (N = 18) were conducted with smokers to refine the TMI content, and a separate sample of smokers (N = 8) provided feedback on the TMI after using it for 1 week. Survey data assessed the TMI's acceptability and feasibility.

Participants generally rated the TMI as helpful and relevant, and nearly all had cell phone plans that included unlimited texting and were able to view TMI content with few difficulties. Qualitative feedback on strengths/limitations of the TMI in terms of content, tone, and delivery parameters was used to finalize the TMI for a future evaluation.

Results suggest that a TMI is a feasible and acceptable option for young people experiencing homelessness who are interested in quitting smoking.

Due to the burden of tobacco-related illnesses among hospital inpatients, an evidence-based smoking cessation brief intervention tool was developed for clinicians working in hospitals in Queensland, Australia. The tool, called the Smoking Cessation Clinical Pathway (SCCP), is used by clinicians to support inpatient smoking cessation and manage nicotine withdrawal in hospital.

To investigate the impact of completed SCCP on nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) prescribing and use, and to explore clinician involvement in smoking cessation interventions.

A retrospective review was conducted to examine data regarding SCCP responses and NRT offering, prescribing and use. The statistical significance of the results was assessed using chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests.

Patients with a completed SCCP were more likely to be offered NRT (P < 0.0001). NRT prescribing on admission and discharge was higher in patients with a completed SCCP (P = 0.001 and P = 0.027). Intention to quit had no effect on whether NRT was offered (P = 0.276) and NRT acceptance was higher for patients that intended to quit smoking (P < 0.0001).

The SCCP prompted clinicians to offer NRT to patients, leading to increased NRT prescribing and use. These findings demonstrate the utility of the SCCP to assist clinicians to promote smoking cessation among hospital inpatients.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for tobacco cessation is an evidence-based, yet underutilized intervention. More research is needed to understand why some treatment-seekers are ‘no-shows’ for the initial visit.

Examine factors associated with participant no-shows among smokers scheduled for group CBT.

Tobacco smokers (N = 115) were recruited from the community, screened, and if eligible, scheduled to begin group-based CBT plus nicotine replacement therapy. At the screening, participants reported their recruitment source, demographics, smoking history, and contact information. We computed the distance to the study site using the address provided. Regression analyses tested predictors of participant no-shows for the initial visit.

Eligible participants were mostly recruited via flyers (56%), female (58%), African American (61%), middle-aged (Mage = 49 years), averaged 16 cigarettes per day, and resided 8 miles away from the study site. The overall initial visit no-show rate was 56%. Bivariate analyses indicated that respondents who were recruited online, younger, and lived further away from the site were more likely to be no-shows. Younger age significantly predicted failure to attend in the multivariable model.

Findings highlight potential barriers to participation in a group-based intervention, and have implications for pre-intervention engagement strategies and modifications that may increase reach and uptake.

According to UK guidelines, stop smoking practitioners are expected to be open and supportive towards e-cigarette users. As adequate support from practitioners can be instrumental for smokers to successfully quit smoking, it is crucial to explore the challenges that stop smoking practitioners face when advising on e-cigarette use.

This qualitative study explores the challenges that stop smoking practitioners face when advising patients on e-cigarettes.

A qualitative study was conducted with semi-structured interviews with 10 stop smoking practitioners from four stop smoking services in London. Face to face interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted to explore practitioners' experiences when advising on e-cigarettes.

Two themes were noted: practitioners' concerns and practitioner–patient interactions. Practitioners were particularly concerned regarding the lack of information, safety issues and the maintenance of addiction linked with e-cigarettes. They emphasised the difficulty of advising on a product that they cannot prescribe. Overall, practitioners expressed the lack of confidence when advising on e-cigarettes since they were often unprepared and not able to answer patients' questions on e-cigarettes.

Stop smoking practitioners' lack of confidence and limited knowledge regarding e-cigarettes emphasises the necessity for training and guidance on e-cigarettes to improve their interactions with patients on this subject. In particular, practitioners need to be provided with clear guidance on how to counsel patients about how and where to buy e-cigarettes.

A household-level constant visual deterrent advocacy campaign to reduce tobacco intake was conducted in rural Bangladesh.

To evaluate smoking tobacco expenditure by campaign components.

We conducted a single-blind clustered randomized controlled trial on 630 adult male household heads from 16 chars (riverine islands) in rural northern Bangladesh, between November 2018 and January 2019. Intervention allotment was randomized at the char level to minimize spillovers, with 8 chars in treatment and control groups each. The intervention provided households in treatment chars (n = 323) with two visual warning posters, detailing the health effects of tobacco on oneself and external actors, to be hung inside the household for 4 weeks. Households in control chars (n = 307) received nothing. Reported daily smoking (log) tobacco expenditure values were the primary outcome of interest.

Final analysis was conducted using 251 and 210 smokers in treatment and control chars respectively. The intervention reduced relative smoking tobacco expenditure by 12.8% (95% CI −31.45 to 5.81) but was not statistically significant (P-value = 0.163). Weak to moderate emotional reactions to the posters was identified as a reason for the statistical insignificance.

For a visual anti-tobacco intervention to have a substantial impact, it must induce strong emotional responses.

There is growing recognition of the role of the mCessation service (MCS) in promoting tobacco cessation in India.

To examine the potential for expanding the utilization of the MCS for tobacco cessation in India after assessing the dimensions related to literacy, mobile phone access, intention to quit, and advice to quit from the second round of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey.

A cross-sectional analysis of the data collected during the second round of the nationally-representative Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) (2016–17) was conducted.

Current tobacco smokers, smokeless tobacco, and dual users compromised 10.7%, 21.4%, and 3.4% of the survey participants, respectively. Quit attempts were reported by 36.3% of the existing tobacco smokers, of whom nearly 72% tried to quit without any assistance, while only 0.3% used the MCS. However, the potential expansion of the MCS was likely among 11.2% tobacco users with an existing intention to quit, being literate, Hindi-speakers and having cell-phone access.

The utilization of the MCS can be considerably expanded among tobacco users in India by enabling multilingual usage and incorporation as standard care practice to allow the opportunistic promotion of tobacco cessation by healthcare providers at their health clinics.

We tested if an adjunctive sleep health (SH) intervention improved smoking cessation treatment response by increasing quit rates. We also examined if baseline sleep, and improvements in sleep in the first weeks of quitting, were associated with quitting at the end of treatment.

Treatment-seeking smokers (N = 29) aged 21–65 years were randomized to a SH intervention (n = 16), or general health (GH) control (n = 13) condition. Participants received six counseling sessions across 15-weeks: SH received smoking cessation + SH counseling; GH received smoking cessation + GH counseling. Counseling began 4-weeks before the target quit date (TQD), and varenicline treatment began 1-week prior to TQD. Smoking status and SH were assessed at baseline (week 1), TQD (week 4), 3 weeks after cessation (week 7), week 12, and at the end of treatment (EOT; week 15).

SH versus GH participants had higher Carbon Monoxide (CO) -verified, 7-day point prevalence abstinence at EOT (69% vs. 54%, respectively; adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 2.10, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.40–10.69, P = 0.77). Higher baseline sleep efficiency (aOR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.03–1.96, P = 0.03), predicted higher EOT cessation. Models were adjusted for age, sex, education, and baseline nicotine dependence.

Improving SH in treatment-seeking smokers prior to cessation warrants further examination as a viable strategy to promote cessation.

This study examined the reasons for e-cigarette (EC) use, changes in self-efficacy and association between EC use and cessation of tobacco among Canadian young adult smokers over a 6-month period.

A secondary analysis was conducted using data from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of young adult Canadian smokers. EC exposure was defined as persistent, transient and non-use of ECs at baseline and follow-up. The association between EC exposure and cessation was examined using logistic regression and adjusting for co-variates.

At 6-month follow-up, persistent EC use was associated with a lower cessation rate (13%) than transient (23%) or non-use (29%). After adjusting for covariates, non-use and transient use were associated with higher odds of cessation than persistent use (AOR = 3.23, 95% CI = 1.41–7.40, P < 0.01; AOR = 2.40, 95% CI = 1.01–5.58, P < 0.05). At 6-month follow-up, persistent users (68%) had high self-efficacy as compared to transient (15%) or non-use (12%). Top reasons for EC use included use as a quit aid (67%), perceived use as less harmful (52%) and taste (32%).

Among young adult Canadian smokers enrolled in a RCT of a cessation intervention, persistent and transient use of ECs was associated with a lower smoking cessation rate at 6 months.

Recent studies have led to suggest that the multifunctional protein clusterin could be envisaged as a potential diagnostic biomarker of addictive behaviours. However, this hypothesis has not been yet tested in nicotine addicts.

We have studied possible associations between clusterin levels in saliva from smokers under cessation treatment and variables related to tobacco consumption, dependence and addiction.

Eighty-one patients were included in an ambulatory smoking cessation programme that involved the use of pharmacological and behavioural therapy. The participants underwent psychological assessment of addiction and dependence (DAST-20, ASSIST, Fagerström tests) and provided saliva samples at the onset of the intervention and 6 months after smoking discontinuation to study the evolution of clusterin levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.

Clusterin concentration did not correlate with nicotine addiction/dependence scores but was significantly elevated in smokers with prolonged tobacco use and high intensity of tobacco consumption. Moreover, the levels of the protein significantly decreased 6 months after smoking cessation.

The results obtained provide strong evidence of a close association between tobacco use and salivary clusterin, a protein that emerges as a biomarker of tobacco toxicity with potential interest to monitor the beneficial effects of smoking cessation.