Primary Projects:
Medication Screening
Improved Human Screening of Cessation Medications
Project Leader: Kenneth Perkins, Ph.D.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
This project aims to improve procedures for brief and efficient human screening of potential smoking cessation medications prior to large clinical trials of the efficacy of those medications. We propose that medication effects are more likely to emerge among smokers who have some motivation to abstain, at least temporarily. Thus, we are evaluating two procedures to increase participant motivation to abstain, as well as other ways to more sensitively identify therapeutic effects of a medication during a short-term test. The 2 primary specific aims for this project are to determine: 1) the influence of treatment seeking status on acute responses to nicotine versus placebo patch; 2) the influence of monetary contingency for abstinence on acute responses to nicotine versus placebo patch. The 3 secondary aims are to evaluate: 3) the influence of medication time course on clinical responses; 4) the influence of assessment method on self-report responses to nicotine patch; and 5) individual differences in responses to nicotine patch. The ultimate goal is to increase the speed and efficiency by which new medications for smoking cessation can be tested for efficacy and approved for use to aid smokers in quitting.
RELATED PUBLICATIONS:
Perkins, K. A., Stitzer, M., & Lerman, C. (2006). Medication screening for smoking cessation: a proposal for new methodologies. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 184(3-4), 628-636.