Tobacco use kills more than 500,000 people in the United States each year. Although the use of cigarettes has declined, the use of other tobacco products has remained steady. Waterpipe smoking is a common form of tobacco smoking after cigarettes in the U.S. (Aki et al., 2011; Primack et al., 2008). In fact, in 2007 the American Lung Association issued a policy alert to warn consumers about this first new tobacco trend of the 21st century (American Lung Association, 2007). Few studies have been conducted on waterpipe smoking to investigate its harmful effects. Furthermore, no known studies have evaluated treatments for smoking cessation in waterpipe smokers. This project has two parts: 1) career development and training of a public health nurse scientist to build the research skills and background necessary to conduct innovative and rigorous research around waterpipe smoking prevention and 2) an analog study to test the role of contingency management (CM) in promoting abstinence from waterpipe smoking for 5 weeks verified by salivary cotinine and to characterize self-reported nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Based on the alarming growth rate over a short period of time in waterpipe tobacco smoking, there is a critical need for clinical research to investigate treatment modalities targeting smoking cessation for waterpipe smokers. Given the evidence for the role of CM in promoting abstinence from many types of drug use, investigation of the utility of CM for waterpipe smoking cessation is important and timely (Higgins et al., 1996;Roll et al., 2000; Shoptaw et al., 2002). Although Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) is the mainstay treatment for treating nicotine dependence delivered through cigarettes, the intermittent use patterns that characterize waterpipe smoking suggest that CM may be more effective in promoting waterpipe smoking cessation (Wagner, 2000). Ultimately, this line of research will help public health nurses to improve the health of the public through an innovative approach to treatment of waterpipe smoking and is an important and timely step towards meeting the tobacco objective for Healthy People 2020. To this end, the evidence based knowledge generated in this study may assist in the translation of the treatment program into public health practice.

Public Health Relevance

Based on the alarming growth rate over a short period of time in waterpipe tobacco smoking, there is a critical need for clinical research to investigate treatment modalities targeting smoking cessation for waterpipe smokers. Investigation of the utility of contingency management in promoting waterpipe smoking cessation is important for meeting the tobacco objective for Health People 2020 and may assist in the translation of a treatment program into public health practice.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Scientist Development Award - Research & Training (K01)
Project #
1K01DA037661-01A1
Application #
8634998
Study Section
National Institute of Nursing Research Initial Review Group (NRRC)
Program Officer
Grossman, Debra
Project Start
2013-09-30
Project End
2016-08-31
Budget Start
2013-09-30
Budget End
2014-08-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$91,538
Indirect Cost
$6,781
Name
Washington State University
Department
Type
Schools of Nursing
DUNS #
041485301
City
Pullman
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
99164
Shishani, Kawkab; Howell, Donelle; McPherson, Sterling et al. (2014) Young adult waterpipe smokers: Smoking behaviors and associated subjective and physiological effects. Addict Behav 39:1113-9