Future Thinking Priming Especially Effective at Modifying Delay Discounting Rates among Cigarette Smokers.

Alina Shevorykin,Ellen Carl,Christine E Sheffer,Warren K Bickel

doi:10.3390/ijerph18168717

Abstract

Background: Tobacco use remains one of the world’s greatest preventable causes of death and disease. While most smokers want to quit, few are successful, highlighting a need for novel therapeutic approaches to support cessation efforts. Lower delay discounting (DD) rates are associated with increased smoking cessation success. Future thinking priming (FTP) reliably reduces DD rates in large populations. Smokers consistently discount more than nonsmokers, and evidence suggests that changes in DD rates are rate dependent. This study examined whether smoking status moderated the effect of FTP on DD rates and, if so, if the moderation effect could be attributed to differences in baseline rates of DD. Methods: Moderation analysis was conducted to determine whether the effect of FTP, versus neutral priming (NP), on DD differed among smokers and nonsmokers. Results: Smoking status moderated the effect of condition (FTP vs. NP) on post-intervention DD scores (b = −0.2919, p = 0.0124) and DD change scores (b = −0.2975, p = 0.0130). There was no evidence of rate dependence effects in the current sample. Conclusions: FTP had a greater effect on decreasing DD rates among smokers than nonsmokers. FTP is effective and simple to administer, which makes it a promising therapeutic approach for aiding smoking cessation.

Highlights

The higher delay discounting (DD) rates found among smokers might be less modifiable given that they appear to be so strongly associated with smoking status
Evidence suggests that changes in DD rates are rate dependent [48,49,50,51,52], which suggests that Future thinking priming (FTP) might have a greater impact on smokers, for whom there is more room for change in DD rates
This study examined whether smoking status moderated the effect of FTP on DD rates and examined if any differences found could be attributed to rate dependency

Summary

Introduction

In the US, smoking cigarettes causes nearly half a million deaths annually and over 30% of all cancer deaths [9,10]. In the US, most individuals who smoke express the desire to quit, and over half make at least one quit attempt nearly every year, but within 6–12 months, over 90% reverse this decision despite significant effort [11]. This pernicious conundrum remains one of the most significant public health challenges today, calling for innovative therapeutic targets and novel approaches to support efforts to quit smoking [10]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion