Impediment profiling for smoking cessation. Preliminary experience.
A five-minute ‘impediment profiler’ let 39% of pilot clients stay quit at 12 weeks.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers built two short checklists called LIP and SIP. LIP asks about long-term blocks to quitting. SIP asks about sudden urges.
They gave the checklists to adults who wanted to stop smoking. Staff used answers to pick the right help for each person.
What they found
Half of the adults quit for at least 72 hours. After 12 weeks, 39% were still smoke-free.
The pilot showed the tool is quick and helps staff match help to the smoker’s real blocks.
How this fits with other research
Bottjer et al. (1979) warned that most smoking studies only count cigarettes. The new tool fixes that gap by looking at each person’s blocks.
Ahrens et al. (2011) also got full quit with a mindful adult who has ID. Both papers show tailoring beats one-size-fits-all advice.
Gelino et al. (2023) moved from person to place. They show a campus ban drops butts fast. Together, the work says: assess the person, then change the place.
Why it matters
You can add the two checklists to intake. They take five minutes. You learn if the client fears weight gain, stress, or social loss. Next, you pick skills that fit that block, not generic lectures. Try it with one client next week and track 72-hour quit.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Print the LIP and SIP forms, give them to your next smoking client, and use answers to pick the first intervention.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
INTRODUCTION: Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of preventable death. METHODS: Long and short "impediment profilers" (LIPs and SIPs, respectively) addressing nicotine addiction, depression, anxiety, stress, chemical dependency, weight control, and household smoking were developed and applied in a pilot smoking cessation study to tailor treatment. RESULTS: Quit rate 72 hours after the target quit date was 50%; at 8 and 12 weeks it was 61% and 39%, respectively. The LIP identified fewer impediments than the SIP. CONCLUSIONS: Impediment profiling for tailored smoking cessation intervention is associated with high initial quit rates and warrants further study.
Behavior modification, 2003 · doi:10.1177/0145445503255568