Positive Psychology for Smoking Cessation

Positive Psychotherapy for Smoking Cessation: A Focus on Strengths to Improve Self-efficacy and Enable Successful Quitting Strategies

This study will examine how Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) may help people interested in quitting smoking, quit.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Illness; Tobacco Dependence
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Individual and Group Treatment for Smoking Cessation

Detailed Description

This project aims to adapt the Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) practice for smoking cessation in adults with severe mental illness (SMI), testing its usability, feasibility, and acceptability in a mixed-methods feasibility pilot study. Qualitative interviews will be conducted to obtain usability and acceptability input on the adapted PPT manual from 4-5 Peer Providers. Then, in partnership with The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester (MHCGM), 6-8 adult smokers with SMI will be recruited who want to quit smoking in the next month and are willing to use nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The 16-week PPT adaptation ("Positive Recovery for Smoking") will be tested progress on cessation assessed through interviewer-administered quantitative assessments at baseline, 8, and 16 weeks. Self-reported cigarettes per day (CPD) and carbon monoxide (CO) will be collected prior to each group treatment session. Informed by the weekly group check-in of cessation progress (quitting status), qualitative interviews will be conducted at 16 weeks to obtain a more nuanced description of the uptake of the intervention, successful quitting strategies, and barriers to cessation with this new method. The manual and materials will be adapted based on the feedback from the first group and another group of 6-8 participants will be recruited to receive the refined intervention and protocol. The result of this feasibility pilot will provide data on the adapted PPT's feasibility and acceptability, alongside a deep description of strategies used and why and how the treatment was perceived as useful or not to the enrolled participants.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 16
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New Hampshire
    • Manchester, New Hampshire, United States, 03103
      • The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• age 21+;
• Serious Mental Illness (SMI) diagnosis;
• smoking ≥10 CPD;
• breath CO ≥10;
• desire to quit in the next month;
• willingness to use NRT daily;
• English speaking and literate to engage in the treatment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• legal guardian;
• active substance use disorder.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Positive Recovery Smoking Cessation (Individual and Group); The "Positive Recovery for Smoking" program is a 16-week treatment that focuses on the use of identifying signature character strengths and identifying, creating, and enjoying positive life events to facilitate recovery from smoking addiction. The first 4 individual sessions will focus on a self-evaluation of strengths and a focus on the individuals top 5 "signature strengths". The participants will then learn about how their signature strengths currently help them function and when and how they can use these strengths to recover from smoking. The group sessions will begin at 5 weeks (following 4 individual sessions) - sessions are structured to begin with a check-in where patients identify their most used signature strengths and take inventory of their smoking and cessation efforts from the past week. We will then support participants in their efforts to learn new ways to navigate positive recovery.

Behavioral: Individual and Group Treatment for Smoking Cessation; Positive psychology-based individual treatment and groups

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Abstinence from Smoking	At least 20% of participants will achieve abstinence (0 cigarettes per day and CO less than 6) at 16 weeks.	baseline to 16 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 10, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): September 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 7, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 7, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): October 9, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 18, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 10, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Tobacco Use Disorder; Mental Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2202130-2

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No