Does motivational interviewing improve the effectiveness of a psychological treatment to quit smoking?

Abstract

Several studies show that when using motivational interviewing (MI) added to standard treatment, in order to increase motivation, treatment outcomes improve. The aim of this study was to examine whether smokers who receive an intervention with MI before a cognitive-behavioral psychological treatment to quit smoking they improve adherence and treatment effectiveness, and they reduce the risk of relapse at follow-up compared with smokers who only receive cognitive-behavioral psychological treatment for smoking cessation. We compared the effectiveness of adding or not MI to a psychological treatment to quit smoking in a sample of 58 smokers (46.6% men and 53.4% women). The experimental group received 2 sessions of MI before the beginning of the 6 sessions of the psychological treatment, while the control group received only 6 sessions of treatment. The results showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups in adherence to treatment, and treatment outcomes at the end of treatment and at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. We conclude that intervention with MI does not produce better results compared to the application of cognitive-behavioral psychological treatment alone.