This proposal builds on our prior work and bridges a gap between mechanisms, clinical trials, and public health research. We have studied mediating mechanisms underlying alcohol-tobacco interactions in alcoholics, resulting in reliable and valid assessment instruments. A recently completed study also developed and evaluated a brief intervention to accelerate motivation to quit smoking among hospitalized smokers who were low in motivation to quit. The proposal will focus on accelerating outpatient alcoholics motivation to stop smoking. It will test the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of promising interventions that are designed to be easily disseminated to outpatient The large sample will permit a strong, prospective, test of the effects of smoking treatments on sobriety during the 12 month follow-up period. The sample will also permit an analysis of possible individual differences (e.g., addiction severity, comorbidity) that may be differentially related to treatment outcome. Cost-effectiveness analysis will contribute unique information of relevance to managed care providers and policy makers. Since more alcoholics die, of smoking related causes than from their alcoholism, treatments are urgently needed that can be broadly disseminated at reasonable cost to make an impact on the population of alcoholic smokers, especially the vast majority who are not motivated to quit.
| Hitsman, Brian; Abrams, David B; Shadel, William G et al. (2002) Depressive symptoms and readiness to quit smoking among cigarette smokers in outpatient alcohol treatment. Psychol Addict Behav 16:264-8 |
| Abrams, D B (2000) Transdisciplinary concepts and measures of craving: commentary and future directions. Addiction 95 Suppl 2:S237-46 |
| Abrams, D B (1999) Nicotine addiction: paradigms for research in the 21st century. Nicotine Tob Res 1 Suppl 2:S211-5 |
| Abrams, D B; Mills, S; Bulger, D (1999) Challenges and future directions for tailored communication research. Ann Behav Med 21:299-306 |
