Testing Counseling and Nicotine Replacement to Help Adults Practice Quitting Smoking

What this Trial Is About

Tobacco use disorder is a chronic condition that often requires ongoing care, but most traditional quitting programs focus only on smokers ready to set a quit date. This trial explores how to better support smokers who are not yet ready to quit by testing two strategies counseling focused on practice quitting trying to stop smoking for short periods without pressure to quit permanently and motivational interviewing counseling, combined with or without nicotine replacement therapy NRT sampling. Participants will be assigned to one of four groups combining practice quitting or motivational interviewing counseling with or without a four-week supply of nicotine lozenges and patches. Counseling involves four weekly sessions, including an initial 45-minute session followed by three 20-minute sessions. Practice quitting counseling aims to help smokers experience withdrawal symptoms safely, while motivational interviewing focuses on motivation and readiness to change smoking behavior. During the study, participants will be monitored over six months to see if they attempt to quit smoking. Follow-up assessments will track quit attempts and abstinence status at one, three, and six months. The study involves smartphone-based procedures and will measure outcomes such as incidence of quit attempts, helping researchers understand which treatments encourage smokers to try quitting even if they are initially unwilling to set a quit date.

Overcoming Nicotine Dependence to Enable Quitting