Cognitive defusion versus experiential avoidance in the reduction of smoking behaviour: an experimental and preliminary investigation

Hooper, Nic; Dack, Charlotte; Karekla, Maria; Niyazi, Asli; McHugh, Louise

Abstract

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Background: Brief procedures that reduce smoking behaviour may be useful in reaching the many people that do not seek help for smoking addiction. Objectives: The current study aimed to determine if one component of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), cognitive defusion, could be useful in reducing smoking behaviour in a sample of students. Methods: The study employed a between-subjects three-arm design. For one week, participants were asked to reduce their cigarette consumption. To aid them in their reduction, participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: the first received a defusion procedure, the second received an experiential avoidance procedure and a control condition received no procedure. For a second week, the instruction to reduce cigarette consumption was lifted. During both weeks participants were required to monitor their smoking behaviour via a tally diary system. Results: The defusion condition smoked significantly less than the control condition during week one and significantly less than the control and experiential avoidance conditions during week two. Conclusion: Results are discussed in terms of the potential utility of defusion in this domain, and the limitations of this preliminary research that would need to be addressed in future investigations.

Citation

Hooper, N., Dack, C., Karekla, M., Niyazi, A., & McHugh, L. (2018). Cognitive defusion versus experiential avoidance in the reduction of smoking behaviour: an experimental and preliminary investigation. Addiction Research and Theory, 26(5), 414-420. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2018.1434156

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 25, 2018
• Publication Date: Sep 3, 2018
• Deposit Date: Feb 2, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 2, 2019
• Journal: Addiction Research and Theory
• Print ISSN: 1606-6359
• Electronic ISSN: 1476-7392
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 414-420
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2018.1434156
• Keywords: acceptance and commitment therapy, defusion, experiential avoidance, smoking behaviour
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/874489
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2018.1434156
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Addiction Research and Theory on 02 February 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/16066359.2018.1434156