Does Exposure to Habitual Smoking Contexts Before Smoking Cessation Reduce Relapse? Results From a Pilot Study

A variety of cues have been proven to elicit reactivity in nicotine-dependent individuals. Since such reactivity has been shown to form a source of relapse, treatments aim at extinguishing this reactivity. Yet, typically, in cue-exposure treatments a very limited range of relevant stimuli is used, usually focusing only on proximal stimuli (e.g., a cigarette) rather than on contextual cues that trigger craving (e.g., a bar). The restriction to proximal cues may be one of the reasons for the low efficacy of cue-exposure treatments. In the current pilot study (N = 88), we aimed to evaluate the effect on relapse rates of exposure to contextual cues prior to quitting smoking, by varying the degree of exposure/extinction to habitual smoking contexts prior to quitting between groups. Results suggest that context exposure prior to smoking cessation indeed reduces relapse. However, since dropout rates were high, this finding needs replication with a larger sample.