Women, weight, and smoking: A cognitive behavioral approach to womenʹs concerns about weight gain following smoking cessation Original Research Article

Many women endorse concerns about the weight gain that commonly accompanies an attempt to quit smoking. These weight-concerned women smokers also are less likely to be successful in their cessation efforts, and several approaches to treating postcessation weight concerns among smokers have been studied. We recently have documented the superiority of a cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) designed to decrease womenʹs concerns about postcessation weight gain as compared to previously studied approaches. In this article, we briefly review the literature on weight concerns for women smokers and present details of a cognitive-behavioral approach to womenʹs concerns about smoking-related weight gain and its integration into standard smoking cessation treatment program. In addition, ongoing treatment research to improve the longer-term outcome of weight-concerned women smokers is discussed.