Tobacco Craving and Triggers in Persons With Schizophrenia

Study Summary

Investigators have recently completed a pilot study exploring the safety and efficacy of using a virtual-reality based cue platform to elicit craving in smokers with schizophrenia(SWS)(Wehring et al, unpublished). In this study, participants with schizophrenia (n=16) showed increased attention to cigarettes and changes in craving measures when participating in the VR craving platform. In addition, participants tolerated the VR environment without undue adverse effects or exacerbation of symptoms. Adverse effects from the VR environment did not differ from that in a non-mentally ill population, and included headache, nausea, and dizziness as most commonly occurring factors. Persons in this pilot also showed acceptable rates of Immersion and Presence in the VR environment, showing the potential use of this form of environment for this and other purposes. In this study, investigators will examine virtual reality cue-reactivity in smokers with schizophrenia, with a focus on the relationship of cue-reactivity with self-identified triggers/cues. Smokers with schizophrenia often identify specific cues that trigger craving. Many of these are environmental (scent, sight of smoking paraphernalia or cigarettes, related objects, or social situations), however, a significant amount of smokers describe emotionally-based factors (sadness, being upset, etc.) as primary cues and triggers. Most methods used to elicit craving in experimental studies are executed via using environmental cues like sight of cigarettes or smoking paraphernalia. It is not known if smokers with schizophrenia(SWS) who are strongly emotionally triggered will be responsive to environmental triggers in a cue-elicited craving platform. This is an important research question, as the testing of anti-craving interventions should be generalizable for use across SWS with differing triggers to smoking. The VR-based environmental program from our pilot study, which includes sight, scent, and social cues, will be used

Primary Outcome

Hypothesis: Based on our pilot data, we hypothesize that smokers with schizophrenia who identify specific environmental cues/triggers of smoking will experience greater self-reported craving as reported by craving on a visual analogue scale and a Tobacco Craving Questionnaire scale as well as physiological responsivity (blood pressure, heart rate, skin conductance) when exposed to environmental smoking cues compared to neutral cues, and will differ from the responsivity of smokers who identify p

Conditions Studied

Study Locations (1)