Helping Veterans With SMI "StayQuit" From Smoking After Inpatient Hospitalization

Helping Veterans With SMI "StayQuit" From Smoking After Inpatient Hospitalization

Given the high prevalence and great cost of smoking for individuals with serious mental illness, an effective smoking cessation intervention for this group of smokers that begins in the hospital and continues following discharge is needed. The investigators will develop and pilot test StayQuit, a multifaceted smoking cessation intervention for smokers with serious mental illness that begins in the hospital and continues for three months after discharge. StayQuit will provide a personalized and tailored experience for smokers with serious mental illness at different levels of motivation to remain abstinent. In the hospital, StayQuit will include a brief motivational intervention that will help smokers relate sustained smoking cessation to their values and preferences, shore up motivation to stay quit, and gain experience using nicotine replacement therapy. This will be followed by cessation-focused discharge planning to engage Veterans in continued smoking cessation services with StayQuit staff. After discharge, StayQuit will offer 13 weeks (spread out over 3 months) of smoking cessation telephone counseling. The investigators will examine the feasibility of StayQuit by collecting both quantitative data on attendance and qualitative data on participants' experiences.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Currently receiving inpatient care at the Baltimore VAMC inpatient psychiatric unit
• 18 years of age or older
• Self-reported smoking of 5+ cigarettes a day prior to hospitalization

Exclusion Criteria:

• Documented history of severe neurological disorder
• Intellectual developmental disorder indicated by chart review