Reliability and Validity of a Smoking Timeline Follow-Back Interview

Smokers with past major depressive disorder participating in a smoking cessation treatment study were interviewed at 6, 26, and 29 weeks postquit to retrospectively assess their smoking behavior using the timeline follow-back (TLFB) method. Participants also completed calendars by self-monitoring the number of cigarettes smoked each day for two 4-week periods over the 26-week follow-up. The 3- and 20-week test-retest reliabilities of the smoking TLFB interview were high. Agreement between participants' daily monitored smoking calendars and their self-reports from the TLFB interview was also high, providing strong evidence for the validity of the TLFB method for smoking. A smoking TLFB interview provides the opportunity to assess patterns of change in smoking and cessation longitudinally over extended time frames.