Computer-Automated Smoking Cessation for Cold Patients

Tobin, David

Abstract

This project's aim is to develop a computer-automated smoking cessation program suit for home use by patients with chronic obstructive lung disease(COLD). Smoking cessation significantly slows the course of COLD and the accelerate deterioration in quality of for most COLD patients. The proposed program is designed to be interactive, provide fr feedback regarding performance, be user friendly, and use the branching capabilities of microcomputer to tailor the interventions to individual patient characteristics. The contents of the smoking cessation program will fall into two categories: (1) education about COLD and smoking, and (2) training in specific self-management skills such as nicfading, self- monitoring, and situational analysis of smoking behavior, Phase I goals of this project are to develop and pilot test a prototype smoking cessation program with bronchitis(CB) patients. A total of six CB patients will complete the smoking cessation program, two for each of three treatment conditions, as part of the Phase I pilot. Two patients will complete the program in the clinic with ongoing supervision, two will complete the program at home with regular weekly supervision, and tow will complete the program home with only telephone contact. The purpose of this research design is to assess und what conditions CB patients are most likely to comply with the demands of computer- autosmoking cessation and, therefore, receive maximum benefit. Phase II goals include development of educational material for patients with emphysema and other lung diseases the development of a maintenance component, and the implementation of clinical trials, the development of a maintenance component, and the implementation of clinical trials. Latter would compare computer-automated smoking cessation with other treatment modaliti such as bibliotherapy and clinic-based smoking cessation. Methods for monitoring and enhancing compliance with the program will be incorporated into Phase I & II research.