Does the Mindful Attention Awareness predict abstinence from nicotine smoking 24-h into a cessation programme?
Olimpia Pino, Antonella Girolami, Giuliano Giucastro
Many psychological, neurobiological and social factors are involved in tobacco abuse. Research on nicotine addiction has achieved partial results in identifying useful variables as indicators of treatment outcomes of tobacco smoking cessation. The aim of our research is to analyse the relationships between the mindfulness construct and smoking abstinence in individuals subjected to pharmacological treatment and motivational counselling, exploring whether the mindful construct is associated with increased likelihood of smoking cessation. In this paper, preliminary data from a pilot study carried out in Northern Italy with a sample of 25 smokers enrolled from a smoking cessation programme are described. Participants were evaluated with the Fagerström Test of the Nicotine Dependence (FTND), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and had a target-quit date of 24-h, which represented the first day of complete abstinence. Results indicated that the Mindful score appears as a salient factor for abstinence. More research is warranted in order to confirm our findings and identify the most effective ways to modify pre-quit characteristics that may help smokers to achieve the first smoking cessation milestone. In this way, it will possible to design training addressed to increasing awareness levels that could improve the outcome of smoking cessation programmes and prevent patient relapse.
Keywords
Nicotine addiction, Tobacco addiction, Smoking, Smoking cessation programmes,
Mindfulness
