It takes two: the role of a non-smoking partner in a quit attempt: a look at dyadic planning and daily interactions

Smoking cessation is a difficult process in which research thus far mainly focused on individuals. However, an important contributor to health behaviour is ones partner. This thesis examined the role of a non-smoking partner in a quit attempt. Non-smokers appeared to have a slightly more negative attitude towards smoking than their smoking partners, which was related to conflicts about smoking. The majority of non-smoking partners indicated the wish for their partner to stop smoking.
We examined an intervention to quit smoking in which if-then plans were created (e.g. If I crave a cigarette after diner, then I’m going for a walk instead). Although we expected smokers to be more successful in quitting smoking when plans were created together with their non-smoking partner, this was not the case. After three months, about 30% of the smokers had quit smoking in both groups. This is relatively high compared to other studies in which smokers created plans alone. Perhaps the mere participation of partners in the study already encouraged their commitment to the quit attempt. All participants filled in daily questionnaires during the cessation process. On days when smokers received more support and less negative control from their partner than usual their probability of smoking was lower. On days when smokers and partners were more confident in the quit attempt than usual, the probability of smoking was also lower.