Studies on the cognitive working mechanism of
smoking cessation in high-
risk populations are few and much needed, and identifying long-term
psychosocial factors to
smoking cessation are relevant to improve intervention for cardiac
patient groups. This
longitudinal study followed
patients who smoked and suffered an
acute coronary syndrome from
hospitalization to 12 months after clinical discharge.
Questionnaires were administered to assess
nicotine dependence, behavioral dependence, autonomous
self-regulation, perceived
competence, social support,
anxiety,
depressive symptoms and
meaning in life at baseline, six months and twelve months after clinical discharge. The results showed that
anxiety (F(2, 62) = 28.10, p < .001, ηp 2 = .48) and
depressive symptoms (F(2, 62) = 10.42, p < .001, ηp 2 = .25) decreased over
time, whereas
meaning in life (F(2, 61) = 44.77, p < .001, ηp 2 = .59) and
social support increased (t(63) = -4.54, p < .001, 95% IC[-11.05, 4.29], η2 =.25).
Smoking dependence was negatively predicted by change in perceived
competence (B = 2.25, p = .011, 95% IC[.02, .60]) and positively by change in
depressive symptoms (B =.37, p = .042, 95% IC[1.01, 2.05]) 12 months after clinical discharge.
Nicotine dependence (t(17) = 2.76, p = .014, 95% IC[.39, 2.94], η2 =.31) and the number of
cigarettes smoked per day (t(17) = 4.48, p < .001, 95% IC[5.49, 15.29], η2 =.54) decreased over
time, whereas behavioral dependence increased among
smokers (t(17) = -2.37, p = .030, 95% IC[-4.30, 2.54], η2 =.25). This study suggests that long term abstinence in cardiac
patients may be enhanced by
psychological interventions addressing perceived
competence,
depressive symptoms and behavioral dependence (AU)