A Virtual Arm to Stop Smoking
Condition: Cigarette Smoking
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The investigators reported in a pilot study presented at last year's Cybertherapy Conference
      (Girard & Turcotte, 2007) that using an action-cue exposure strategy in virtual reality
      (ACE-VR; crushing virtual cigarettes) might be useful in the treatment of tobacco addiction.

      The investigators are pursuing research in this area with a randomized control trial based on
      90 smokers who will receive a brief psychosocial smoking cessation program (25 people are
      enrolled so far and we expect to finish the study before the conference). During the first
      four weeks of an eight-session psychoeducational and motivational program, all participants
      will be immersed in VR. During the immersions in VR, 45 of the participants will use a
      virtual arm to catch and crush virtual cigarettes. The other half of the sample will use the
      virtual arm to catch virtual fruits (control condition).

      The smoking frequency, and abstinence, will be assessed with a daily diary and exhaled carbon
      monoxide tests (the CO2 tests will provide an objective confirmation of the abstinence
      reported in the diaries). The success the program will be compared based on the number of
      subjects who quitted or reduced their smoking frequency. The severity of addiction will be
      assessed with two questionnaires, the Fagerstrom and the Horn tests. Craving and withdrawal
      effects will be measured with the Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Scale (MNWS) and the Brief
      Questionnaire of Smoking Urges (QSU-Brief) at the baseline and at the visits from weeks 1
      through 4, 6, 12 and at the end of the program. Before the VR immersion, the Immersive
      Tendencies Questionnaire will be administered and after each VR session participants will
      fill two questionnaires addressing presence and cybersickness. The comparative impact of both
      treatments will be tested with repeated measures ANOVAs (and planned contrasts) with
      sufficient power to detect medium effect sizes.

      The main goal of our study is show that crushing virtual cigarettes can boost the impact of a
      behavioural program dedicated to cigarette addiction.
    

Detailed description: 
      A detailed description is available, in French, by contacting stephane.bouchard@uqo.ca.
    

Intervention name(s): psychoeducational / motivational combined with crushing; psychoeducational / motivational combined with control
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): All participants will receive an eight-session psychoeducational and motivational program. During the first four weeks, all participants will be immersed in virtual reality (VR).
During the immersions in VR, 45 of the participants will use a virtual reality arm to catch and crush virtual cigarettes (on a computer).; All participants will receive an eight-session psychoeducational and motivational program. During the first four weeks, all participants will be immersed in virtual reality (VR).
During the immersions in VR, the 45 participants in the control condition will use a virtual reality arm to catch and crush virtual fruits (on a computer).
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: cigarette smoking; psychoeducational and motivational program; virtual reality