'Closet' quit attempts: prevalence, correlates and association with outcome

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Addiction Research

Background:

• Smoking cessation remains a significant public health challenge.
• Understanding diverse quitting strategies, including undisclosed attempts, is crucial for effective interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of undisclosed smoking quit attempts.
• To identify predictors associated with making quit attempts privately.
• To evaluate the cessation outcomes of smokers who attempt to quit without prior disclosure.

Main Methods:

• An online survey was administered to 524 participants, including current smokers and recent quitters.
• Participants reported on their most recent quit attempt, noting whether it was disclosed in advance.
• Statistical analyses, including odds ratios and confidence intervals, were used to identify predictors and cessation success rates.

Main Results:

• Nearly half (45%) of participants made their most recent quit attempt without prior disclosure.
• Planning quit attempts and using behavioral treatment decreased the likelihood of undisclosed attempts.
• Undisclosed quit attempters showed higher 30-day abstinence rates (67%) compared to disclosed attempters (58%).
• No significant difference in 6-month abstinence rates was observed between disclosed and undisclosed quit attempts.

Conclusions:

• Attempting to quit smoking without advance disclosure is prevalent among smokers.
• Undisclosed quit attempts do not appear to negatively impact short-term cessation success (30 days).
• Current findings do not support a universal recommendation for smokers to disclose all quit attempts.