Table 3.
Quitting Strategies Used to Maintain Abstinence from Smoking Cannabis by 120 Participants with Schizophrenia.
| Strategy | Used and helpful N (%) |
Didn’t use, but might have been effective N (%) |
Most helpful N (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating of helpfulness | |||
| Encouragement from family | 55 (45.8) | 26 (40) | 11 (9.5) |
| Not at all | 4 (7.3) | ||
| Used | 51 (92.7) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 2.9 (1.2) | ||
| Encouragement from friends | 31 (25.8) | 43 (48.3) | n/a |
| Not at all | 2 (6.5) | ||
| Used | 29 (93.5) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 2.4 (1.1) | ||
| Stopped associating with people who smoke cannabis |
74 (61.7) | 23 (50.0) | 13 (11.2) |
| Not at all | 2 (2.7) | ||
| Used | 72 (97.3) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.3 (1.0) | ||
| Stopped going to places where cannabis was smoked |
73 (60.8) | 27 (57.5) | 8 (6.9) |
| Not at all | 3 (4.1) | ||
| Used | 70 (95.9) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.4 (1.0) | ||
| Got rid of cannabis | 86 (71.7) | 16 (48.5) | 11 (9.5) |
| Not at all | 5 (5.8) | ||
| Used | 81 (94.2) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.3 (1.2) | ||
| Got rid of cannabis paraphernalia | 80 (66.7) | 16 (40.0) | 4 (3.5) |
| Not at all | 5 (6.3) | ||
| Used | 75 (93.7) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.3 (1.1) | ||
| Attended a self-help group e.g., AA |
44 (36.7) | 34 (44.7) | 7 (6.0) |
| Not at all | 2 (4.5) | ||
| Used | 41 (93.2) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.3 (1.2) | ||
| Got counseling or psychotherapy | 30 (25.0) | 57 (64.0) | 3 (2.6) |
| Not at all | 1 (3.3) | ||
| Used | 29 (96.7) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.2 (1.1) | ||
| Religious support, prayer | 62 (51.7) | 25 (43.1) | 17 (14.7) |
| Not at all | 2 (3.2) | ||
| Used | 60 (96.8) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.4 (1.1) | ||
| Saw a physician | 23 (19.2) | 40 (41.2) | 2 (1.7) |
| Not at all | 2 (8.7) | ||
| Used | 21 (91.3) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 2.9 (1.3) | ||
| Took non-prescription medication | 5 (4.2) | 20 (17.7) | |
| Used | 5 (100) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.8 (0.4) | ||
| Took prescription medication | 19 (15.8) | 37 (37.0) | 2 (1.7) |
| Not at all | 1 (5.3) | ||
| Used | 18 (94.7) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.2 (1.1) | ||
| Took herbal medicine, vitamins, nutritional supplement |
21 (17.5) | 33 (34.0) | 3 (2.6) |
| Not at all | 4 (19.0) | ||
| Used | 16 (76.2) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 2.7 (1.5) | ||
| Had acupuncture | 11 (9.2) | 34 (31.8) | 1 (0.9) |
| Not at all | 6 (54.5) | ||
| Used | 5 (45.5) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 1.6 (1.9) | ||
| Other | 13 (11.2) | 2 (2.0) | 7 (6.0) |
| Used | 12 (92.3) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.8 (0.6) | ||
| Quit without any quitting strategies at all |
73 (60.8) | 8 (17.8) | 27 (23.3) |
| Not at all | 6 (8.2) | ||
| Used | 64 (87.7) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 3.2 (1.3) |
“Used” is a combination of a little bit, moderately, quite a bit, extremely, couldn’t have quit without it.