Cognitive behavioral therapy for challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among social science and religion students

Background: Tobacco smoking is a public health issue. The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on the disputation of challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among students enrolled in the Social Science and religious Education programmes. Methods: The study adopted a pretest-posttest randomized controlled group design with follow-up. The population comprised of 76 tobacco smokers (randomized into 1 of 2 groups: n=38 for the treatment group, n=38 for the waitlist control group) completed the study. A self-report scale measuring dependence on cigarettes was used as the outcome measure. The treatment group was exposed to a 12-weeks CBT intervention. The treatment and waitlisted groups were evaluated at 3 time points: pretest, post-test, and follow-up. Statistical analyses were achieved using ANOVA. Results: The result showed that CBT had a significant effect in reducing the challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among the student smokers in the treatment group in comparison with the waitlist control group. The positive behavioral gains after the CBT program also persisted at follow-up in the treatment group compared with the waitlist control group. Conclusion: Therefore, this study suggests that CBT intervention is a time-effective treatment method for disputation of challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among students enrolled in the Social Science and Religious Education Programmes.