Self-Efficacy Can Help Reduce Smoking Rates and Relapse Among People with Severe and Persistent Mental Illnesses

Introduction: According to the CDC, nearly 1 in 5 adults in the United States – about 45.7 million Americans—have some type of mental illness. This priority population tends to have no/little sense of future planning, therefore lacking the ability to foresee chronic exposure to substances. Evidence showed they are twice as likely to smoke cigarettes than people without a mental illness. Approximately 200,000 people who have a mental illness die every year from illnesses caused by cigarette smoking. However, studies about their smoking cessation are very limited. This study aimed to bridge this gap by identifying a key psychosocial construct for intervention.

 Methods: A systemic literature review was conducted to explore the relationship between Self-Efficacy and smoking cessation along with the reduction in smoking relapse during a quit attempt.  Among the 10 articles reviewed, four examined this priority population. A summary table was created to compare the effects of self-efficacy to smoking cessation.

 Results: Self-efficacy has an influence on the initiation of a quit smoking attempt and reducing relapse during a quit attempt. Evidence showed when people with a mental illness have high self-efficacy towards quitting they are more likely to quit smoking, have more quit attempts, and are less likely to have a relapse in smoking compared to someone with lower self-efficacy.    

Discussion: Strong evidence showed that utilizing self-efficacy in quit smoking programs can further decrease smoking rates among people with mental disorders. Future intervention programs are suggested to incorporate self-efficacy to quit smoking in the design.