Cue exposure treatment for smoking relapse prevention: a controlled clinical trial

Aims. In an additive design, test the efficacy of cue exposure treatment for smoking relapse prevention as an adjunct to current standard cognitive behavioral and pharmacological treatments. Design. Randomized, controlled clinical trial. Setting. Outpatient behavioral medicine clinic. Participants. One hundred and twenty‐nine cigarette smokers recruited through newspaper advertisements. Intervention. After receiving an initial counseling session for cessation and setting a quit day, 129 smokers were randomly assigned to one of four relapse prevention treatment conditions: (1) brief cognitive behavioral; (2) cognitive behavioral and nicorette gum; (3) cognitive behavioral and cue exposure; and (4) cognitive behavioral and cue exposure with nicorette gum. All smokers met individually with their counselor for six RP sessions. Measures. Seven‐day, point‐prevalence abstinence rates (CO verified) taken at 1, 3, 6 and 12‐months post‐treatment and time to first slip. Findings. All manipulation checks and process measures suggested that the treatments were delivered as intended. There were no significant differences between conditions in point‐prevalence abstinence rates or in time to first slip. Conclusions. These results call into question the utility of cue exposure treatment for smoking relapse prevention.