DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): My goal is to become an independent investigator focusing on health disparities research with a particular interest in smoking cessation among minority populations. The specific aim of this project is to examine the mechanisms underlying the process of smoking cessation and relapse among Spanish-speaking smokers, and how these mechanisms are influenced by factors such as education and acculturation. The proposed study will address these issues by examining real-time, momentary changes in affect, self-efficacy, expectancies, motivation, craving, stress, and social support in the natural environment. Participants will be Spanish-speaking community smokers (N=140) recruited from the greater Houston area. Participants will be tracked for 3 contiguous weeks (from a week prior to their quit date through two weeks after their quit date) using state-of-the-science ecological momentary assessment (EMA) procedures (Stone & Shiftman, 2002), All participants will receive smoking cessation treatment consisting of nicotine patch therapy, self-help materials, and in-person counseling based on the Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence Clinical Practice Guideline (Fiore et al., 2000).To the best of our knowledge, this study will be the first among Spanish speaking smokers to evaluate the potential mechanisms underlying smoking cessation using palmtop administered EMA procedures to assess transient and context dependent constructs associated with smoking. Moreover, there is less research on how social factors influence smoking cessation as compared to smoking prevalence, and in particular, on how these factors influence specific mechanisms that affect cessation. Thus, this study will contribute unique knowledge to the field. Other unique contributions of this project include the longitudinal investigation of acute momentary phenomena, repeated assessment of daily experience, and analyses of trajectories overtime (both pre- and post-cessation) in a population of Spanish speaking smokers. The aims of the study are to 1) Examine the intrapersonal and contextual determinants/antecedents (e.g., craving, affect, self-efficacy, expectancies, stress, coping behavior, and social support) of daily experience, temptations to smoke, and smoking lapses among Spanish-speaking smokers during a quit attempt; and 2) Examine the influence of education and acculturation on these mechanisms of smoking relapse. |