Behavior Activation for Smoking Cessation in College Students through Videoconference: Pilot Study

Abstract

Introduction: tobacco use is a public health problem in the world. In Mexico, prevalence rates are higher in young adults. There are different reasons for smoking or quitting in a college environment, but they all overlap since most include positive affect induction and reduction of negative affect, which accounts for positive and negative reinforcement processes in smoking behavior. Behavioral Activation (BA) was originally proposed in the treatment of depression through the reinforcement of incompatible behaviors. Promising results have been reported recently in the use of substances and modification of affective states.

Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of a Behavioral Activation intervention to Smoking cessation (BA-S) in the consumption pattern.

Method: BA-S was applied by videoconference to 15 college students, with a single-case design with replication; the effect size was calculated using the non-overlap of all pairs (NAP). Results: The BA-S was effective for smoking cessation and reducing consumption patterns. The effect size ranged between 91.10% and 100%; nine students quit smoking and six reduced their consumption.

Discussion and conclusions: BA-S decreased the pattern of tobacco consumption and modified the affective states; these results should be taken with caution due to the limited number of participants. It is suggested to continue with the application of the intervention through videoconference since it is a viable alternative in this population.