Generalized and Domain-Specific Episodic Thinking for Smoking Cessation

Summary

Cigarette smoking remains common, particularly in rural areas, despite ample evidence that smoking causes cancer and respiratory disease. Successful smoking cessation yields the majority of its health benefits (e.g., avoidance of lung cancer) after years of sustained behavioral change; however, people who smoke cigarettes tend to show elevated rates of delay discounting (i.e., devaluation of delayed outcomes) and a bias for immediate gratification. The overall goal of this project is to develop different versions of an episodic future thinking intervention (i.e., visualization of the future) and test their feasibility and efficacy for smoking cessation in rural and urban populations.

Conditions

• Cigarette Smoking Behavior

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Episodic Future Thinking (EFT)

Participants will engage in EFT for 8 weeks, three times a day. Participants will receive three daily text messages. Each prompt will link to a custom web interface that guides participants to read and vividly imagine one of their cues, chosen randomly. Visit times and durations will be recorded.

BEHAVIORAL

Episodic Recent Thinking (ERT)

Participants will engage in ERT for 8 weeks, three times a day. Participants will receive three daily text messages. Each prompt will link to a custom web interface that guides participants to read and vividly imagine one of their cues, chosen randomly. Visit times and durations will be recorded.

BEHAVIORAL

Domain-specific episodic thinking

Content of the episodic thinking intervention will experiencing the symptoms of lung cancer during a broad range of personally meaningful, otherwise positive, events (e.g., social events, celebrations, spending times with friends and family).

BEHAVIORAL

Generalized episodic thinking

Content of the episodic thinking intervention will include a broad range of personally meaningful, positive, events (e.g., social events, celebrations, spending times with friends and family).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)

  collaborator NIH

• Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jeffrey Stein, PhD · Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-05-01

Primary Completion

2027-05-01

Completion

2027-05-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations