Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of death and disability in the U.S. People with psychiatric disorders consume almost half (44.3%) of all cigarettes smoked in the U.S. and have life spans more than 20 years shorter than the general population. Effective quit smoking treatments for people with psychiatric disorders are sorely needed. When patients are hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder, they are not allowed to smoke. This enforced period of no smoking creates what professionals call "a teachable moment". It provides an excellent opportunity to discuss the prospect of staying quit once the individual leaves the hospital.

In our ongoing research, we have developed and tested...

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Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of death and disability in the U.S. People with psychiatric disorders consume almost half (44.3%) of all cigarettes smoked in the U.S. and have life spans more than 20 years shorter than the general population. Effective quit smoking treatments for people with psychiatric disorders are sorely needed. When patients are hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder, they are not allowed to smoke. This enforced period of no smoking creates what professionals call "a teachable moment". It provides an excellent opportunity to discuss the prospect of staying quit once the individual leaves the hospital.

In our ongoing research, we have developed and tested a Sustained Care quit smoking intervention for smokers engaged in a psychiatric hospitalization. The intervention includes: 1) a professionally-led, motivational counseling session to encourage quitting smoking and increase awareness about available quit smoking resources, 2) a referral to the Texas Tobacco Quitline for phone-based, quit smoking counseling, and 3) an offer of 8 weeks of nicotine patches after leaving the hospital. Our findings from our recently completed clinical trial provide strong support for this Sustained Care intervention.

Our aims in the current project are to develop and test a tablet computer-based, motivational counseling intervention that does not require a trained professional counselor. Our goal is to conduct a clinical trial to demonstrate the effectiveness of this tablet-based, Sustained Care intervention for smokers engaged in psychiatric hospitalization. As before, we will provide the same quit smoking resources (Quitline and nicotine patches) upon hospital discharge. If successful, next steps will involve plans to implement this quit smoking intervention in psychiatric hospitals throughout Texas, in order to reduce the burden caused by tobacco-related cancers among the citizens of Texas.

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