Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Wellness Program for Latinx who Smoke and have Psychological Distress: Research Protocol of a Feasibility Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Tobacco smoking is a major independent risk factor for chronic disease and the prevalence of smoking among people with behavioral health disorders is twofold in comparison with the general population. Smoking rates remain high for various subgroups within the Latinx community, the largest ethnic minority group in the US. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a theoretically sound and clinically validated therapeutic approach for several behavioral health conditions with growing evidence of its effectiveness for smoking cessation. Unfortunately, the evidence of ACT effectiveness for smoking cessation among Latinx is scarce, and none of the existing studies have tested a culturally targeted intervention for this population. OBJECTIVE This project aims to address the co-occurrence of smoking and mood-related challenges among Latinx adults via the development and testing of a culturally tailored ACT-based wellness program: Project PRESENT. METHODS This study entails two phases. Phase 1 consists of the intervention development. Phase 2 entails the pilot testing of the behavioral intervention along with the administration of baseline and follow-up measures to 48 participants. Primary outcomes include feasibility of recruitment and retention, and treatment acceptability. Secondary outcomes are smoking status and depression and anxiety scores at end of treatment and one month follow-up. RESULTS This study received Institutional Review Board approval. Phase 1 outputs are the health counselors’ treatment manual and participant guide. Phase 2 outputs will be determine after project implementation and data analyses are complete. CONCLUSIONS Findings from this study will determine the feasibility and acceptability of an ACT-based, culturally relevant intervention for Latinx adults who smoke and have clinically significant depression and/or anxiety. If feasible and acceptable, the study will inform large-scale trials which will ultimately contribute to narrowing the gap between research and clinical practice for the co-occurrence of smoking and psychological distress among Latinx adults.