Quitting Smoking: A Psychological Experiment Using Community Research

Quitting Smoking utilizes the Experimental Social Innovation model for conducting applied research. This experiment permitted the comparison of two multi-component smoking cessation treatments. The efficacy of an innovative treatment model, developed through pilot-demonstration, was compared to a traditional cessation treat- ment existent in the community and a control condition. The innovative model using contingency contracting, social support and health education was shown to produce incremental improvement in treatment outcome compared to both comparative models. Findings from a typo- logical analysis showed that persons could be classified into several distinct types and subtypes (i.e., smokers; nonsmokers). The author also presents a detailed treatment manual for experienced or inexperienced individuals who would like to adopt this new treatment model. This book provides a stimulating resource for all social scientists involved in smoking cessation research, including researchers, university faculty, consultants, practitioners, and students interested in developing solutions to contemporary social problems.