Ecological momentary assessment and first smoking cessation lapse after an acute cardiac event: A pilot study

This 28-day pilot study assessed the feasibility of cell phone ecological momentary assessment in 40 smokers who received emergency department evaluations for acute coronary syndrome. Ecological momentary assessments used familiar touch tone response technology during a cell phone call to capture ratings of illness perceptions, emotion, behavioral intentions, and smoking. Ecological momentary assessments were conducted 1-8 times/day and took 1-2 minutes to complete. The mean ecological momentary assessment call compliance for all 40 subjects was 56.3 percent (standard deviation = 29.4), and during an ecological momentary assessment, 72.5 percent of participants reported a first lapse. We found that first-week call compliance was significantly correlated with subsequent compliance (r = 0.55, p < 0.001).