Becoña Iglesias, ElisardoMartínez Vispo, CarmelaSenra Rivera, María del CarmenLópez Durán, AnaRodríguez Cano, Rubén AgustínFernández del Río, Elena2020-05-182020-05-182017Becoña, E., Martínez-Vispo, C., Senra, C. et al. Cognitive-behavioral treatment with behavioral activation for smokers with depressive symptomatology: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial. BMC Psychiatry 17, 134 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-017-1301-7http://hdl.handle.net/10347/22383Background Smoking is an important risk factor for mental health-related problems. Numerous studies have supported a bi-directional association between cigarette smoking and depression. Despite the advances in understanding the comorbidity between both problems, the most effective psychological treatment that simultaneously targets smoking and depressive symptomatology remains unclear. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for smoking cessation with components of behavioral activation for managing depressed mood. Method A single blind, three-arm, superiority randomized controlled trial is proposed. Participants will be smokers over 18 years old, who smoke at least 8 cigarettes per day. Participants will be randomized to one of three conditions, using a 2:2:1 allocation ratio: 1) standard cognitive-behavioral smoking cessation treatment; 2) standard cognitive-behavioral smoking cessation treatment plus behavioral activation; or 3) a three-month delayed treatment control group. The primary outcome measures will be biochemically verified point-prevalence abstinence (carbon monoxide in expired air) and significant change from baseline in depressive symptoms to the end of treatment, and at the 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up. Discussion This study aims to assess the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral intervention with behavioral activation components for smoking cessation and depressive symptoms, compared to a standard cognitive-behavioral intervention to quit smoking. As the relation between depressive symptoms, even at subclinical levels, and quitting smoking difficulties is well known, we expect that such intervention will allow obtaining higher abstinence rates, lower relapse rates, and mood improvementeng© The Author(s). 2017. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise statedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Smoking cessationDepressive symptomsBehavioral activationRandomized controlled trialjournal article10.1186/s12888-017-1301-71471-244Xopen access