Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to quit smoking if they can
learn to manage the negative emotions that lead to smoking, a new study from
researchers at the Buffalo Research Institute has found. Previous studies have
shown that smoking during pregnancy can lead to the development of bronchial
asthma and other respiratory problems in a child.
The study involved seventy pregnant women who wanted to quit smoking and
reported resorting to the habit in response to stress, anger and anxiety. These
women use smoking as a way to deal with their negative feelings. Many face the
problem of poverty, insecure housing and unemployment, as well as the stress of
pregnancy, which increases negative emotions. All of these factors make care
difficult and impair the well-being of both mothers and their children. Half of
the women took part in a smoking cessation program consisting of emotion
regulation treatment combined with standard cognitive-behavioral therapy, while
the other received cognitive-behavioral therapy. therapy and participated in
health and lifestyle education activities. Emotion regulation is an
intervention-based therapy where counselors help participants imagine stressful
situations that cause strong urges or cravings to smoke, and then allow them to
experience those feelings in a session without smoking. The women were also
taught mindfulness skills and effective ways to cope with the urge to smoke.
Participants in this program showed significantly higher rates of smoking
cessation, with 23% quitting two months after starting emotion regulation
treatment compared to controls. They also stated that they felt more confident
that they would be able to quit smoking. In addition, women in the emotion
regulation program who did not quit smoking showed improvement because they
smoked less than half the number of cigarettes daily compared to the control
group.
The scientists noted that there is widespread evidence that smoking cigarettes
during pregnancy leads to a number of negative health outcomes for the fetus,
including an increased risk of low birth weight and preterm birth, as well as
higher rates of asthma and visual impairment. Since smoking cessation drugs are
not recommended for use during pregnancy, behavioral methods of helping
pregnant women to fight a bad habit come to the fore.