Effects of Nature Exposure on Smoking Behavior

Using Nature Exposure Research to Reduce Impulsivity in Smokers

Smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. While smoking is a significant threat to public health in the US in general, the negative effects of smoking disproportionately affect Americans with 12 or fewer years of education and those living below the poverty line. Given these health disparities, it is vital to have widely-available treatments that can be applied in multiple contexts in a cost-efficient way. While numerous methodologies and intervention programs exist, there is a need for improved cessation programs targeted to smokers with low levels of education attainment and income, as these smokers tend to be less likely to receive cessation assistance from a health care provider or have sufficient resources to access treatments. Therefore, the present proposal aims to assess the feasibility of a tool that will improve smoking cessation programs in a short and cost-effective manner: a brief exposure to nature.

The health and wellbeing benefits of nature exposure have been well researched and are widely recognized, and research on the underlying mechanism for nature's positive impact on health has identified a reduction in impulsivity as a mediator of this effect. However, this work has never been directly translated to smoking outcomes, and thus the translational purpose of the present project is to assess the feasibility of a brief and cost-effective nature exposure intervention on smoking cessation outcomes. Prior work demonstrates the validity of the causal links in the nature -> impulsivity -> smoking cessation model. Research has shown that nature exposure reduces impulsivity for health-related outcomes, and found that increased impulsivity is linked to all stages of smoking. A necessary step in developing a practical application for this research is the aim of the present project.

Smokers will be recruited online and randomly assigned to either the Nature or Control condition. Participants in the Nature condition will be given a nature-based intervention, while participants in the Control condition will be given a non-nature-based intervention. Participants will be contacted via text message throughout the following 24 hours and asked to report their degree of urgency to smoke and number of cigarettes smoked. Participants will complete measurements of impulsivity, income, socio-economic status, and education, and additional smoking-related constructs.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Tobacco Smoking
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Nature exposure; Other: Non-nature exposure

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 42
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Montana
    • Missoula, Montana, United States, 59812
      • University of Montana

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Smoked at least two cigarettes per day for the last seven or more days
• Must be 18 years old or older
• Must have a smart cellular phone that can send and receive text messages and open web links

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Nature group; Nature exposure intervention.	Other: Nature exposure; Participants will view images of nature.
Active Comparator: Non-nature group; Non-nature exposure intervention.	Other: Non-nature exposure; Participants will view non-nature images.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
1-item Desire to Smoke Measure	Self reported rating of desire to smoke. This item is scored 1 - 10 (1 = no desire to smoke; 10 = craving to smoke is extreme).	1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Montana
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Luke Conway, PhD, University of Montana

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 2, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): June 30, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 20, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 19, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): October 23, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 30, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 26, 2018
• Last Verified: October 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 44-17

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No