Health Psychology Research / HPR / Volume 9 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.52965/​001c.24506
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Impact of a soft tip nicotine-free harmless cigarette as part of a  smoking cessation program with psychological support and  varenicline: an integrated workplace smoking cessation  intervention 

Marilena Maglia1 Pasquale Caponnetto2 Riccardo Polosa3 Cristina Russo3 Giuseppe Santisi4
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1 Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (COEHAR), University of Catania, Italy
2 Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (COEHAR) and the Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, Italy
3 Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (COEHAR) and the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Italy
4 Department of Educational Science, University of Catania, Italy
Submitted: 1 June 2021 | Accepted: 2 June 2021 | Published: 11 June 2021
© 2021 by the Author(s). Licensee Health Psychology Research, USA. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

Cigarette consumption in the general population has shown a sustained decline over the past 20 years, but despite this, it is essential to monitor consumption among smokers at their workplace. There is an association between cigarette addiction and work-related stressors, with high prevalence rates for smokers, at least double those of other adults. This two-group randomized clinical trial compared the 12-week combined effect of psychological support and varenicline associated with the use or not of a nicotine-free inhaler with a soft mouthpiece (QuitGo™) on the 4 to 24-week cessation rate in enrolled smokers to a smoking cessation program promoted by our research group. The results of the logistic model analysis showed that the likelihood of quitting successfully at week 24 was significantly higher in the QuitGO™ group than in the control group for participants with high behavioral dependence as assessed by Glover-Nilsson Smoking Behavioral Questionnaire-GN-SBQ (OR = 8.55; CI at 95% = 1.75-43.20). The data presented suggest that the soft tip nicotine-free harmless cigarette may be helpful for smokers and those with work-related stress symptoms who recognize the need to have a gesture in the traditional cigarette smoking ritual.

Keywords
work-related stress
smoking gesture
working
addiction
smoking cessation
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Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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Health Psychology Research, Electronic ISSN: 2420-8124 Published by Health Psychology Research