Iman Elfeddali*, Maastricht University, School for Public Health and Primary Care (Caphri), Maastricht, Netherlands Hein de Vries*, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands Reinout Wiers, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands Track: Research Presentation Topic: Public (e-)health, population health technologies, surveillance Presentation Type: Poster presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Last modified: 2013-09-25

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Background. Smoking relapse prevention programs – mostly targeting explicit processes of behavior change – have shown only modest behavioral effects. Recent studies have associated implicit cognitive processes such attentional and approach biases with smoking behavior. Objectives.This study aimed to assess the efficacy of an attentional bias modification (ABM) training in modifying attentional and approach biases and fostering continued abstinence. Differential effects of the training were assessed for regular smokers (>15 cigarettes per day) and non-regular smokers (not >15 cigarettes per day). Methods. Participants were daily current smokers (>5 cigarettes per day), aged between 18 and 65 years, who were motivated to quit smoking within one month and made a quit-attempt. The study was a randomized controlled trial with two conditions: 1. a control group, 2 an ABM-training. Both conditions consisted of a pre- and post-training assessment, six intervention sessions and a follow-up measurement after six months. The intervention sessions were either training sessions or assessments only (in the control condition). Group allocation was randomized. Pre- and post-training assessments consisted of subjective measures of smoking-related cognitions (e.g., self-efficacy) and implicit measures of attentional bias (Visual Probe (VP) task) and approach bias (Stimulus Response Compatibility (SRC) task). The VP-task taken at post-training included untrained pictures to assess whether the effects of the training generalize to new pictures. Follow-up measurements assessed self-reported continued abstinence.
Results. The ABM-training had only moderate effects with regard to attentional bias and no effects on approach bias. The training significantly fostered continued abstinence compared to the control group, but only for regular smokers. Conclusions This study is the first to show significant effects of an ABM-training in fostering continued smoking abstinence among regular smokers who made a quit-attempt.