) Research nas not yet uncovered a treatment that effectively reduces the risk of relapse; i.e., no efficacious relapse prevention treatments exist. This research is designed to produce information on the nature of smoking relapse and to develop and evaluate a treatment intended to reduce an abstinent smoker's risk of relapse. Subjects in this research (N=480; 160 subjects per group) will all be abstinent following a brief smoking cessation treatment. For Brief Therapy subjects this will constitute their only treatment. For Brief Therapy + Net subjects, the brief cessation treatment will be followed by access to Internet sites that provide smoking cessation resources. Brief Therapy + CHESS subjects will be given access to the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) following the brief treatment. CHESS is a computer-based guided universe of information, emotional support, and problem-solving assistance. Exposure to the Internet or CHESS will continue for 4 months following a subject's quit date. For this grant, a version of CHESS will be created that specifically targets smoking relapse. This Relapse Prevention CHESS will be based upon the following notions: (1) either episodic events, or worsening trends in affective/withdrawal symptoms, or both can trigger a smoking lapse. (2) efficacious treatments exist that address these threats to abstinence, but these treatments are efficacious only while on-going. Therefore, the key to efficacious relapse prevention is to sustain consistent treatment involvement over the period of significant relapse risk. And, (3) because trends in affective/withdrawal symptoms presage smoking lapses, through daily tracking of a subject's symptoms, CHESS can accurately anticipate lapses and intervene prior to a lapse. This research project will therefore, develop and evaluate a novel, research-based strategy of relapse prevention. This strategy is designed to use computer-integrated treatments in a cost-effective manner, and is designed to be widely disseminated in concert with a variety of cessation programs. Other goals of this research are to assess smokers' acceptance and use of the relapse interventions, and to identify mechanisms through which the interventions produce their effects.
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