Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T18:51:02.238Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Homework Compliance in a Brief Cognitive-Behavioural and Pharmacological Intervention for Smoking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Ann P. Funk
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, United States of America.
Michael J. Zvolensky
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, United States of America.
Norman B. Schmidt*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, United States of America. Schmidt@psy.fsu.edu
*
*Address for correspondence: Norman B. Schmidt, PhD, Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA.

Abstract

Homework assignments have been a key component of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for decades, but very few studies examined the effect of compliance on outcome in regard to smoking behaviour. To fill this gap in the existing literature, the present report evaluated the role of homework compliance on short-term outcome in the context of evidence-based care for smoking cessation. Compliance with out-of-session assignments was assessed in a four-session CBT-nicotine replacement therapy protocol for smoking cessation among adult daily smokers (n= 94). Consistent with expectation, homework compliance was associated with better short-term outcomes, including amount of cigarettes consumed as well as abstinence. Importantly, these effects remained after controlling for a wide range of potentially confounding variables (e.g., motivation to quit, nicotine dependence at intake, attendance problems, and in-session participation). Estimates of quantity versus quality of homework compliance did not differentially predict outcomes. Out-of-session homework assignments incrementally predict short-term smoking abstinence in the context of evidence-based care for smoking cessation.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)