Smoking Cessation Program for Inpatients with Substance Use Disorder: A Quasi-Randomized Controlled Trial of...

The present study investigated the feasibility, acceptance and efficacy of a newly developed cognitive behavioral program for smoking cessation/reduction ('Rethink your Smoking' program, RSP) in inpatients with substance use disorder (SUD).

One hundred ninety-nine inpatients with SUD were randomly assigned to either the RSP (n = 101) or a minimal intervention (MI) program (n = 98). In addition, participants were offered optional nicotine replacement therapy. Data from a group of patients with SUD without any intervention (control group, n = 78) were included in the analyses for comparison. Assessments were performed at admission, discharge and follow-up after 3 and 6 months.

RSP proved to be feasible and was well accepted by participants. Patients in both interventions showed lower scores for physical nicotine dependence and number of cigarettes smoked per day and higher scores for various motivational parameters at discharge and 3 months later. Both interventions were superior to no intervention, but no differences were found between the RSP and MI.

A smoking cessation/reduction program is feasible for substance-dependent in-patients undergoing detoxification. Although the RSP appears to be effective in terms of harm reduction in in-patients with SUD, more cost- and time-efficient programs might also be suitable for this population.