Effects of psychological conditions and changes on smoking cessation success after a residential smoking cessation therapy program: a retrospective observational study

Residential smoking cessation therapy programs offer intensive treatment for heavy smokers who struggle to quit independently, particularly those with high nicotine dependence and health conditions that necessitate urgent cessation. While previous studies have established the effectiveness of such programs and identified various factors influencing smoking cessation success, it remains unclear how changes in smokers' thoughts and attitudes following residential therapy correlate with their ability to quit smoking. We investigated the relationship between smoking cessation-related characteristics, smoking-related psychological status, and participants' smoking cessation success after a residential smoking cessation therapy program. From January 2017 to December 2018, 291 participants completed the program. All participants completed questionnaires on smoking cessation-related characteristics and smoking-related psychological status before the program and on the 5th day. Six months later, smoking cessation success was assessed using a urine cotinine test. After 6 months, 222 participants successfully quit smoking, while 69 failed. The success and failure groups exhibited statistically significant differences in age, marital status, total smoking duration, stress, and emotion regulation strategies. Participants who used ineffective emotion regulation strategies more frequently had a lower rate of smoking cessation success (odds ratio [OR], 0.969; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.948-0.991). Moreover, an increase in the perception of the negative effects of smoking cessation (OR, 0.982; 95% CI, 0.967-0.997) and smoking temptation (OR, 0.960; 95% CI, 0.929-0.993) was associated with higher cessation success. Emotion regulation strategies, perceptions of the effects of smoking cessation, and smoking temptation were associated with successful smoking cessation.