Skip to main content
. 2019 Jun 14;2019(6):CD001008. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001008.pub3

Hyman 1986.

Methods Setting: Australia, site not described.
 Study period: not stated.
 Recruitment: half the number of subjects referred through public hospital, other half responded to newspaper advertisement.
 Sample size calculation: none.
Participants Number of participants: 60 smokers (15 in each group).
 Inclusion criteria: not stated.
Exclusion criteria: not stated.
 Overall demographics: 28% male, mean age 34.9 years, smoked an average of 29.9 CPD; 13% having made no prior attempt to stop smoking.  
Interventions a) Hypnosis (Weitzenhoffer & Hilgard induction method, modified Spiegel treatment).
 b) Focused smoking (approximately 15 mins focused smoking practices, 3 times during each session, based on Hackett & Horan 1978).
 c) Attention placebo (discussed topics of concern to the subject).
 d) Waiting list control (wait‐list of 3 months with no contact, but they were offered treatment after this time if they so wished).
Duration of intervention: groups a), b) and c) were seen individually for 1hr, once a week for 4 weeks.
 Duration of follow‐up: 6 months.
Outcomes Definition of smoking cessation: point‐prevalence abstinence at six months.
 Adverse events: no information provided on whether or not AE data were collected and whether any AEs occurred.
Notes Funding: not stated.
Author declaration of interest: not reported.
 Additional notes: participants expected to abstain after first hypnosis session but received all four sessions whether they had successfully abstained or not.
Risk of bias
Bias Authors' judgement Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias) Unclear risk Randomized, method not stated
Allocation concealment (selection bias) Unclear risk No details given
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) 
 All outcomes High risk No blinding, and self‐report only at six months (serum thiocyanate measured at 3 months)
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) 
 All outcomes Low risk Number lost to follow‐up in groups at 6 months: a) 1; b): 3; c): 2. They were considered to be smoking and included for analysis.
Selective reporting (reporting bias) Low risk All outcomes reported as described in the methods section.