A Virtual Arm to Stop Smoking

Summary

The investigators reported in a pilot study presented at last year's Cybertherapy Conference (Girard \& Turcotte, 2007) that using an action-cue exposure strategy in virtual reality (ACE-VR; crushing virtual cigarettes) might be useful in the treatment of tobacco addiction.

The investigators are pursuing research in this area with a randomized control trial based on 90 smokers who will receive a brief psychosocial smoking cessation program (25 people are enrolled so far and we expect to finish the study before the conference). During the first four weeks of an eight-session psychoeducational and motivational program, all participants will be immersed in VR. During the immersions in VR, 45 of the participants will use a virtual arm to catch and crush virtual cigarettes. The other half of the sample will use the virtual arm to catch virtual fruits (control condition).

The smoking frequency, and abstinence, will be assessed with a daily diary and exhaled carbon monoxide tests (the CO2 tests will provide an objective confirmation of the abstinence reported in the diaries). The success the program will be compared based on the number of subjects who quitted or reduced their smoking frequency. The severity of addiction will be assessed with two questionnaires, the Fagerstrom and the Horn tests. Craving and withdrawal effects will be measured with the Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Scale (MNWS) and the Brief Questionnaire of Smoking Urges (QSU-Brief) at the baseline and at the visits from weeks 1 through 4, 6, 12 and at the end of the program. Before the VR immersion, the Immersive Tendencies Questionnaire will be administered and after each VR session participants will fill two questionnaires addressing presence and cybersickness. The comparative impact of both treatments will be tested with repeated measures ANOVAs (and planned contrasts) with sufficient power to detect medium effect sizes.

The main goal of our study is show that crushing virtual cigarettes can boost the impact of a behavioural program dedicated to cigarette addiction.

Conditions

• Cigarette Smoking

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

psychoeducational / motivational combined with crushing

All participants will receive an eight-session psychoeducational and motivational program. During the first four weeks, all participants will be immersed in virtual reality (VR). During the immersions in VR, 45 of the participants will use a virtual reality arm to catch and crush virtual cigarettes (on a computer).

BEHAVIORAL

psychoeducational / motivational combined with control

All participants will receive an eight-session psychoeducational and motivational program. During the first four weeks, all participants will be immersed in virtual reality (VR). During the immersions in VR, the 45 participants in the control condition will use a virtual reality arm to catch and crush virtual fruits (on a computer).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universite du Quebec en Outaouais

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Benoit Girard, M.D. · G.R.A.P.

• Stephane Bouchard, Ph.D. · U.Q.O.

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2008-03-31

Primary Completion

2008-06-30

Completion

2009-06-30

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations