Tobacco Use Disorder, Schizophrenia
Conditions
Keywords
nicotine, reinforcement, craving, relapse
Brief summary
This project tests two hypotheses concerning the low smoking cessation rates in smokers with schizophrenia. The first hypothesis is that smokers with schizophrenia experience stronger and more sustained effects of smoking abstinence on negative mood and smoking urge than control smokers without psychiatric illness. The second hypothesis is that smokers with schizophrenia experience stronger reinforcing effects of a smoking lapse (i.e., more rewarding effects of smoking after a period of abstinence) than control smokers without psychiatric illness.
Detailed description
In this study, smokers with schizophrenia and smokers without psychiatric illness participate in a nicotine preference task before and after a 3-day period of continuous smoking abstinence. The investigators will experimentally control abstinence by providing participants with high-value cash incentives contingent upon smoking abstinence verified with breath carbon monoxide levels. The investigators will measure nicotine withdrawal and smoking urge during the abstinence period. In the nicotine preference task, participants will make choices between nicotine-containing and denicotinized cigarette puffs to provide a measure of nicotine reinforcement, and the investigators will also measure the effects of smoking on mood. After the second nicotine preference task, participants will receive a small-value reinforcer if they continue to abstain for another day, and the investigators will measure time to the second lapse.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALsmoking abstinence
3 days of biologically-confirmed smoking abstinence
Sponsors
Brown University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* cigarette smokers, 20-50 cigarettes per day * schizophrenia or no psychiatric illness * age 18 or older * male or female
Exclusion criteria
* unstable symptoms or medication * not interested in quitting smoking within 6 months
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Withdrawal symptoms | 3 days | negative mood related to nicotine withdrawal |
| urge to smoke | 3 days | craving for smoking |
| nicotine preference | before and after 3 days of abstinence | choice for nicotine puffs versus denicotinized cigarette puffs |
| positive and negative mood | before and after 3 days of abstinence | positive and negative mood scale |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| time to lapse | 192 hours | time between smoking behavior in the laboratory and first cigarette outside of the laboratory |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed