Abstract
Objectives
The mindful smoking exercise instructs participants to pay attention to a range of experiences while smoking a cigarette with the expectation that it will modify the often automatic process of smoking. Given its theoretical value, mindfulness- and acceptance and commitment therapy–based smoking cessation interventions have usually included a mindful smoking exercise. However, its utility has not been empirically examined. Through qualitative analyses, the current study examined smokers’ lived experience with mindful smoking during an 8-week telehealth group–based smoking cessation and alcohol modification trial.
Methods
Participants were smokers who were present in group during the mindful smoking exercise. The recordings of sessions and follow-up interviews in which discussion on mindful smoking took place were transcribed and hand-coded for qualitative analysis. A thematic content analytic approach was used to identify themes.
Results
Participants (N = 20) were 75% female (mean age = 49.75, average cigarettes per day = 16.35). Identified themes mapped onto both the theoretical rationale for mindful smoking (e.g., attention/awareness, decentering, similarity/difference between mindful versus automatic smoking) and cognitive-affective-behavioral responses (e.g., unpleasant/pleasant experience, shifts in desire to smoke, cognitive reappraisal). The most prominent themes were attention/awareness, similarity/difference between mindful versus automatic smoking, and unpleasant/pleasant experience. Dynamic interplay between themes was also observed and representative quotes are included.
Conclusions
Our findings indicate that intentionally paying attention to smoking led to the reporting of a heightened awareness of automatic behavior accompanied by noticing unpleasant aspects of smoking, potentially facilitating change in one’s relationship to smoking. Theoretical implications of mindful smoking in the context of addiction are discussed.
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Data, Materials, and Code Availability Statement
Data, materials, and code will be available upon reasonable request. Raw verbatim data will not be available for ethical reasons.
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Funding
This work has been supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R34AT009689) and by the Participant Research, Interventions, and Measurement Core, the Lung Cancer Center of Excellence, and the Cancer Center Support Grant (P30CA076292) at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, a comprehensive cancer center designated by the National Cancer Institute. MJY was supported by a National Cancer Institute training grant (T32CA090314).
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MJY: collaborated in the designing of the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. DK: collaborated in the designing of the study and the editing of the final manuscript and analyzed the data. KW: collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. MU: collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. SB: collaborated in the curating of the data and the editing of the final manuscript. DW: collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. CV: designed and executed the study, analyzed the data, and collaborated in the writing and editing of the final manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.
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The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The current study was approved by the Advarra Institutional Review Board (Protocol number: 19630).
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Yang, MJ., Ketcher, D., Witkiewitz, K. et al. What Happens When You Smoke a Cigarette Mindfully? A Deductive Qualitative Study. Mindfulness 13, 2628–2640 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01984-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01984-7