Substance abusers have a high prevalence and rate of smoking with little success in quitting, so stronger approaches are needed to encourage attempts to quit smoking.~The aim of this study is to determine whether contingent reinforcement for smoking abstinence (CM), compared to noncontingent reinforcement (NR), increases the effectiveness of brief counseling and nicotine replacement on smoking abstinence of substance abusers in residential treatment. The proposed study will be a 2-group design in which up to 274 substance abusers who smoke 10 or more cigarettes per day receive brief advice (4 sessions) and nicotine replacement (NRT) (8 weeks), and are randomized to 19 days of CM for smoking vs. a matched NR condition. The brief advice is adapted slightly for sobriety settings. Point-prevalence abstinence will be assessed at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after starting treatment. Secondary aims evaluate effects of CM on substance use outcomes and potential mediators of effects on outcome, including within-treatment abstinence, motivation level and tolerance for smoking discomfort.~The significance is to add knowledge about the most effective ways to maximize smoking cessation among substance abusers, important given that no methods are known to work with this population.
The aim of this study is to determine whether contingent reinforcement for smoking abstinence, compared to noncontingent reinforcement, increases the effectiveness of brief counseling and nicotine replacement on smoking abstinence of substance abusers in residential treatment.