One of the central concerns of health promotion is motivating smokers to quit because this addiction poses significant threats to the health and life of an individual. All the cessation treatment that presently exist can be subdivided into two large groups: behavioral and medication smoking-cessation treatments (Shiffman, Brockwell, Pillitteri, & Gitchell, 2008).

Behavioral interventions rely on various theories of behavior change such as Transtheoretical model, the Health Belief Model, and Learning theory. The central focus of all these theories is placed on self-regulation and motivation. As a rule, these interventions take the form of counseling that involves motivating discussions, interviews, reflections and other activities that target understanding the roots of the addiction and the related precipitating factors. More specifically, the forms of behavioral intervention delivery include group behavior therapies, telephone counseling, brief advice, individual behavior counseling, motivational messages, and self-help materials.

The major purpose of these interventions is to enhance the client’s motivation to quit smoking by identifying appropriate incentives (Roberts, Kerr, & Smith, 2013). As studies demonstrate, behavioral interventions are less commonly used than medication interventions or mixed interventions (Shiffman et al., 2008). As Robert et al. (2013) explain, the preference for medication interventions is determined by the lack of trust in the effectiveness of behavioral therapies as well as seeking simple solutions because changing unfavorable behavior patterns requires more efforts than taking the prescribed pill.

Medication smoking cessation treatment, in turn, involves nicotine replacement therapy, Varenicline-based treatment, and Bupropion-based treatment. Each of these strategies has its own specificities. Thus, for example, the nicotine replacement treatment is one of the most popular strategies, while Bupropion-based treatment is the more ambiguous one because it is associated with seizures, drug interactions, and other unfavorable side effects. The specificity of the Varenicline-based treatment is that the intake of the medication should begin before a person quits smoking (McDonough, 2015). Thus, the selection of an appropriate treatment strategy should be personalized.