Experimental Group. Participants will select a YMCA branch and be assigned a personal fitness instructor who will act as their case manager, overseeing the integrated exercise-based intervention for smoking cessation. Guided by our pilot data showing efficacy and tolerability of the exercise dose, the exercise intervention consists of 75 minutes/week of aerobic training at vigorous-intensity for 15 weeks2. As in the previous study, the aerobic training component will be completed on a treadmill and target training intensity will be self-selected at 60% to 85% of age-predicted heart rate reserve (i.e., vigorous intensity) 2. In order to maximize adherence, the days of the week and training progression schedule will be individualized for each participant based on initial fitness level, travel, and any other issues.
The participant and fitness instructor will meet for three sessions during the first week of exercise training. During the first session, the fitness instructor will describe the program (i.e., treatment model and aims), set a target quit attempt for week 6, develop an exercise training schedule, and supervise the first exercise session to ensure the participant is exercising properly. After two more supervised exercise sessions during the first week, the pair will meet one day per week during the following 14 weeks of the study. The fitness instructors will be responsible for monitoring sessions weekly, problem-solving any difficulties, adjusting the aerobic and/or resistance training regimen as appropriate, and entering the participants exercise data into the (REDCap) database specifically designed for the study.
At the beginning of week 3, the fitness instructor will connect the participant with the quitline (i.e., warm transfer). The Tobacco quitlines are now available in every U.S. state via a national quitline portal, 1-800-QUIT-NOW, and have become the major vehicle through which smoking cessation services are delivered in the U.S.73. All participants will receive the standard telephone counseling package of up to 5 proactive calls from the Texas Tobacco Quitline (https://www.quitnow.net/texas/); we will use a 'warm transfer' (i.e., call the quitline in the presence of the smoker and put them on the phone for the intake interview). Call 1 is an assessment and planning call, Call 2 is a pre-quit date call, Call 3 is a quit date call, and Calls 4 and 5 are maintenance calls if the smoker has quit or problem solving calls if they have not quit. Overall, the counseling protocol aims to (1) provide cognitive-behavioral smoking cessation and relapse prevention tools, tailored to the individual smoker's characteristics and; (2) provide medication management and advice regarding nicotine patch use and adherence support, with the goal of completing a full course of medication - in this case, 8 weeks of transdermal nicotine patch use.
On the target quit day, the fitness instructor will provide the participants with Nicoderm CQ®, 24-hour transdermal nicotine patches (TNP) as part of the study. We chose to provide the patch for 8 weeks because longer than 8 weeks does not appear to improve treatment efficacy10. We chose the TNP because of the extensive empirical literature supporting its effectiveness and safety, its ease of use, and its relatively benign side effect profile that have led to its approval as an over-the-counter medication74. Quitline staff provide instructions on dose and tapering schedule in a fashion consistent with that used in previous trials with a similar formulation of the patch10.
Control Group. The intervention procedures for this group are identical to the Experimental Group group except that the target training intensity will be self-selected at 20% to 40% of age-predicted heart rate reserve (i.e., light intensity).
