Montefiore Medical Center researchers have received a $3.7 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop an anti-smoking program for HIV-infected smokers. The five-year grant supports the study of Positively Smoke Free (PSF), an intensive group cessation program designed specifically for HIV-infected smokers.
The PSF program uses cognitive behavioral therapy and includes eight 90-minute sessions for groups of six to eight people led by a psychologist and HIV-infected peer. In the original pilot study of 145 patients, 19.2 percent quit smoking vs. 9.7 percent in the control group. Since quit rates almost doubled with the PSF program, NIH recognized the promise of the program and awarded a larger grant.
“Approximately 60 percent of individuals living with HIV in the United States are smokers, which is triple the national average, and the majority are interested in quitting,†said Jonathan Shuter, M.D., director of clinical research, Montefiore AIDS Center and professor of Clinical Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. “However, there are unique psychosocial characteristics among many HIV-infected smokers who are not effectively reached through traditional smoking cessation programs.â€