Clinical effectiveness of sustained-release bupropion and behavior therapy for tobacco dependence in a clinical setting

Despite decades of public education, cigarette smoking remains a serious health problem. The treatment approach at Tripler Army Medical Center is a unique collaboration of family practice physicians and health psychologists providing combination therapy to patients attempting to quit smoking. This article discusses a program evaluation of the Tripler Army Medical Center smoking cessation program. Patients attempting to quit smoking were assisted with a combination of cognitive-behavioral group therapy and sustained-release bupropion hydrochloride. At 6 months postintervention, patients who attended the smoking cessation programs were contacted via telephone and asked to complete a survey regarding their smoking status. One hundred forty-four participants completed the survey. Thirty-five percent of all contacted attendees remained abstinent from smoking at 6 months after intervention. A significantly greater percentage of men quit than women. There were no significant differences of abstinence rates by any other demographic characteristic or smoking history variable. Family practice physicians and health psychologists providing a combination of pharmacological and group cognitive-behavior therapy for nicotine dependence are effective in promoting abstinence from smoking.