An experimental investigation of the self-management therapies: coverant control and covert sensitization

Abstract

The relative efficacies of the SM techniques of Coverant Control (CC) and Covert Sensitization (CS), when applied singly and in combination, are investigated. Rate of cigarette smoking is the dependent variable.

From an initial sample of 61 volunteers, smokers wishing to quit, 55 subjects (S’s) maintained contact and comprised the study group. Eleven S’s formed a non-treated control condition while the remaining 44 were distributed equally across 4 experimental conditions. These groups included a Placebo condition, CC, CS and CS + CC combined.

It was hypothesised that CS and CC would prove more effective than a Placebo condition which involved contact only. It was further hypothesised that CS+ CC, administered as a combined package, would prove more effective in maintaining in-treatment gains at follow-up than when either of these treatments was administered singly.

The statistical analyses indicated no significant differences between the experimental groups receiving regular contact. All groups, except the non-treated controls, did reduce cigarette consumption while the programme lasted. However, on follow-up there was an almost uniform return toward baseline rates, with the SM treatment S’s not differing from those in the Placebo group.

These data are discussed in terms of possible implications for the development of SM techniques that are clinically useful with cigarette smokers.