Mechanisms of Mindfulness for Smoking Cessation

Brown University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Smoking Cessation

Treatments: Device: Smartphone; Behavioral: App/Training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02943499

1R61AT009337-01

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to understand brain mechanisms of app-based mindfulness training in smokers ages 21 to 65 years.

Enrollment: 80 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 21-65 years of age
• Smoke 10+ cigarettes/day
• < 3 months abstinence in the past year
• Have a smartphone; and motivated to quit smoking
• Score >18 of 20 on Action subscale of the Readiness to Change Questionnaire

Exclusion criteria

• Any usage of psychotropic medication: not on a stable dosage 6+ months
• Prior participation in a mindfulness course or regular meditation practice (>20 min/week)
• Serious psychiatric, cognitive, or medical disorder
• MRI contraindications
• Structural brain damage as well as other brain abnormalities revealed by the MRI
• Claustrophobia
• Not being fluent in English
• Recreational drug use
• Pregnant women
• History of a neurological disorder
• Current participation in a smoking study
• Adults unable to consent
• Prisoners

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

80 participants in 2 patient groups

Active Comparator App/Training

Active Comparator group

Description:

This is a standard smoking cessation smartphone app using the latest evidence-based smoking cessation methods and behavior change theory. Subjects will be encouraged to set a quit date of 3 weeks, to allow comparison to experimental arm quit date.

Treatment:

Behavioral: App/Training

Behavioral: App/Training

Device: Smartphone

Experimental App/Training

Experimental group

Description:

This is a 3-week smartphone-based training program that trains mindfulness for smoking cessation by helping smokers self-monitor their smoking habits, recognize when and how often they smoke, identify triggers for smoking, and learn methods to become more mindful of triggers, to quit smoking with a target quit date of 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: App/Training

Behavioral: App/Training

Device: Smartphone