Evaluating the Episodic Future Thinking Intervention for Reducing Cigarette Consumption in Cigarette Smokers
June 18, 2026 updated by: Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Pilot Study of Episodic Future Thinking Among Cigarette Smokers
This clinical trial evaluates the effectiveness of active episodic future thinking (EFT) stimuli for reducing cigarette consumption in cigarette smokers.
EFT is an innovative framing method shown to significantly activate brain regions involved in future thinking, planning, and other executive functions.
Active EFT stimuli are positive events, unrelated to smoking, that participants anticipate, look forward to, and can vividly imagine happening up to 1 year in the future.
Control EFT stimuli are positive past events, unrelated to smoking, that participants can vividly remember happening in the recent past.
Active EFT stimuli may help reduce cigarette consumption among cigarette smokers by exposing them to personally relevant future oriented stimuli.
Study Overview
Status
Completed
Conditions
Detailed Description
PRIMARY OBJEECTIVE:
I. To evaluate the efficacy of episodic future thinking (EFT) for smoking cessation.
OUTLINE: Participants are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.
ARM I (ACTIVE): Participants receive the active EFT stimulus and use the iCOquit Smokerlyzer carbon monoxide monitor on study.
ARM II (CONTROL): Participants receive the control EFT stimulus and use the iCOquit Smokerlyzer carbon monoxide monitor on study.
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Actual)
104
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.
Study Locations
-
-
New York
-
Buffalo, New York, United States, 14263
- Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
-
-
Participation Criteria
Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
- Adult
- Older Adult
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Smoke >= 10 cigarettes daily
- >32 on the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ)
- No regular use of other tobacco products
In possession of a smartphone with text messaging capabilities
- Willing to quit smoking in the next 30 days
- Low socioeconomic status
- Veteran of the US armed services
Exclusion Criteria:
- Unable or unwilling to provide verbal consent
- Unable or unwilling to provide data to the research team
- Current use of nicotine replacement therapy, bupropion, or varenicline
- Use of drugs of abuse in the past 30 days
- Living in the same household as a participant already enrolled in this study
- Unable or unwilling to use nicotine patches
Study Plan
This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Prevention
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: Arm 1 (active EFT)
Participants receive the active EFT stimulus and use the iCOquit Smokerlyzer carbon monoxide monitor on study.
|
Receive active EFT stimulus
Other Names:
Use iCOquit Smokerlyzer carbon monoxide monitor
|
|
Active Comparator: Arm II (control EFT)
Participants receive the control EFT stimulus and use the iCOquit Smokerlyzer carbon monoxide monitor on study.
|
Use iCOquit Smokerlyzer carbon monoxide monitor
Receive control EFT stimulus
Other Names:
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Concentration of carbon monoxide on breath
Time Frame: From baseline up to 30 days
|
Will be measured by Micro+Basic carbon monoxide monitor
|
From baseline up to 30 days
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Reduction in delay discounting rate
Time Frame: Up to 30 days
|
participants will be guided to imagine the situational and sensory details for each of the stimuli until the vividness scores are ≥ 4 on a scale of 1-5 (1=very low, 5=very high).
|
Up to 30 days
|
Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Sponsor
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Christine Sheffer, Roswell Park
Study record dates
These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Actual)
September 15, 2024
Primary Completion (Actual)
October 1, 2025
Study Completion (Actual)
June 5, 2026
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
April 11, 2023
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
April 11, 2023
First Posted (Actual)
April 24, 2023
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
June 22, 2026
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
June 18, 2026
Last Verified
June 1, 2026
More Information
Terms related to this study
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- I 2684022
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
This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.