THERAPY TO HELP WOMEN REDUCE THEIR CONCERNS ABOUT GAINING WEIGHT FOUND TO BE EFFECTIVE IN HELPING THEM TO STOP SMOKING
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine found that a treatment program that focuses on
reducing women's concerns about weight is the first
treatment to significantly improve smoking cessation in
weight-concerned women. Previous interventions for weight- concerned women assumed that the best approach to fostering smoking cessation was to help them prevent any weight gain after they quit smoking. This study, as well as other research, indicates that this assumption is not correct, and that directly reducing the concerns about weight, rather than the weight gain itself, is what will help these women quit smoking.
The study, by a research team led by Dr. Kenneth A. Perkins
and Dr. Marsha Marcus, is published in the August, 2001
issue of "Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology".
"Quitting smoking tends to be harder for women than for
men, and part of this disparity is attributable to women's
greater fear of gaining a lot of weight if they quit, "
says NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner. "It would be an
important clinical advance if we find a way to successfully
address those concerns, making it easier for more women to
stop smoking."
The Pittsburgh investigators randomly assigned 219 women
smokers who wanted to stop smoking, but were worried about
gaining weight, to one of three smoking cessation groups.
One of the groups received standard smoking cessation
therapy, where weight gain was not explicitly addressed.
Another group received the same smoking cessation program
plus diet advice to prevent weight gain (i.e. weight
control). The third group received the standard smoking
cessation program and therapy to reduce their concern about
gaining weight, but dieting was discouraged in this group.
Among the factors emphasized in this counseling was that
the health benefits of quitting smoking superseded the
health risks of even large amounts of weight gain.
In each of the groups, 10 sessions were conducted over 7
weeks. No medication of any kind was provided.
One year after treatment, 21 percent of the women who
received therapy to allay their concerns about weight gain
had completely quit smoking (with no relapses), compared to
13 percent of the weight control group, and 9 percent of
the standard therapy group.
The women in the study did gain weight after quitting
smoking. Those in the weight control group initially had
the smallest weight gain, as expected, but as time went on,
their weight gain was comparable to women in the standard
therapy group. Surprisingly, the women in the group
receiving therapy to allay their concerns about weight gain
fared the best in terms of preventing weight gain. At one-
year follow-up after treatment, they had gained less weight
than women in either the weight control or the standard
therapy groups. Women in the weight counseling group
gained, on average, 5.5 pounds, while women in the weight
control and the standard therapy groups gained on average
11.9 pounds and 16.9 pounds, respectively.
Dr. Perkins says these results indicate that "the critical
factor influencing smoking relapse in women concerned about
gaining weight may be the women's over-concern about weight
gain, rather than the experience of weight gain itself."
|