Managing negative emotions can help pregnant smokers quit
Smoking during pregnancy is a matter of serious concern, says Clara Bradizza, PhD, senior research scientist at RIA. "It's well-documented that smoking cigarettes while pregnant leads to a range of negative health effects on fetuses, including increased risk of low birth weight and preterm delivery, and greater rates of asthma and learning disabilities," she says. The research involved 70 pregnant women who wanted to quit smoking and reported smoking in response to stress, anger and anxiety. "These women use smoking as a way to manage their negative feelings," Bradizza says. "Many experience poverty, insecure housing and unemployment, along with the stress of pregnancy, which increases negative emotions. All these factors make it more difficult to quit." Half of the women took part in a smoking cessation program consisting of emotion regulation treatment (ERT) combined with standard cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), while the others received...