Greater engagement in valued activities is associated with less barriers to quitting smoking among smokers with mobility impairments.
Belinda Borrelli, Romano Endrighi, Shira Dunsiger and 5 others
PMID 37236878WHAT IT FOUND
Smokers with mobility impairments who engaged in more valued activities reported less depression and higher confidence to quit.
Finding a replacement for activities lost to disability was linked to lower depressive symptoms and greater self-efficacy, though this does not prove the activities caused these benefits.
Key findings
01Engaging in a greater number of activities was significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms, lower odds of major depressive disorder, greater positive affect, lower negative affect, and lower perceived stress.
02Engaging in a greater number of activities was significantly associated with higher self-efficacy to quit smoking and smoking fewer cigarettes per day.
03Among those who relinquished a valued activity, finding a replacement was significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms, lower odds of major depressive disorder, greater positive affect, and higher self-efficacy to quit.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if activity engagement causes better mood and smoking outcomes, or if people with better mood and less smoking engage in more activities. The measures for activity engagement, restriction, and replacement were newly developed and have not been psychometrically validated. The sample consisted of smokers with mobility impairments who were enrolled in a cessation trial, which may limit generalizability to all smokers with disabilities. No adjustments were made for multiple comparisons, which increases the risk of false-positive findings.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H., Extramural).
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that prescribing specific activities will directly cause smoking cessation or reduce depression in your patients. These findings are associations from a cross-sectional analysis; they do not prove that increasing activity engagement leads to better outcomes.