Unpacking willpower in unassisted smoking cessation: a qualitative analysis reveals a systematic profile of situational and cognitive strategies

Citation

Marathia E, Duffy S, Stephen A, More KR & Saunders B (2026) Unpacking willpower in unassisted smoking cessation: a qualitative analysis reveals a systematic profile of situational and cognitive strategies. Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, 14 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/21642850.2026.2644658

Abstract
ABSTRACT Background: Over half of those who quit smoking do so without formal assistance, yet the psychological processes supporting unassisted cessation remain little understood.Success is often attributed to willpower, an umbrella term that lacks explanator precision and obscures the underlying tractable processes. Drawing on the Process Model of Self-Regulation and the Behavior Change Technique (BCT) Taxonomy, this study aimed to identify the concrete strategies that enable individuals to quit smoking unassisted, thereby clarifying what willpower might look like in practice.Materials and methods: Thirty-two participants who had successfully quit smoking without formal support participated in semi-structured interviews. Inductive content analysis identified key challenges, while deductive coding mapped strategies addressing these challenges to the Process Model of Self-Regulation and the BCT Taxonomy.Results: Participants’ accounts reflected a diverse range of strategies, averaging seven distinct BCTs, spanning the Situation Selection and Modification, Attention Redeployment, and Cognitive Change stages from the Process Model. Common BCTs included avoiding environmental triggers, substituting smoking with alternative behav-iors, and seeking social support. In contrast, Response Modulation (e.g. ‘just say no’)accounted for only 1% of the data.Conclusion: Unassisted quitters drew from a sophisticated repertoire of strategies that are actionable, teachable, and embedded within the individual’s physical and social environment. The qualitative methodology used in this study offers an understanding of the lived experiences of self-quitters, potentially informing public health interventions that integrate individual and system-level approaches to behavior change that extend beyond brute-force willpower.ARTICLE HISTORY Received 28 June 2025Accepted 8 March 2026KEYWORDSUnassisted smoking cessation; self-regulation strategies; behavior change techniques; public health policy Introduction Tobacco poses a major threat to public health, causing over 7 million deaths and costing $1.4 trillion annually as estimated in 2012 (Goodchild et al., 2018; World Health Organisation, 2025). The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases aims to reduce smoking prevalence by 30% by the end of 2025 relative to 2010 levels; however,this target is projected to be missed by approximately three years (WHO, 2019, 2025). While these statistics motivate formal cessation interventions, over half of those who quit do so without formal assistance(~45–70% across studies and countries; Edwards et al., 2014; Smith et al., 2015b; Smoking Toolkit Study,2024b; 2025). The desire to demonstrate commitment and resoluteness, as well as to avoid the medicalization of cessation, might explain why individuals prefer unassisted quitting (Smith et al., 2015a, 2015b).However, the processes through which individuals achieve unassisted cessation remain poorly understood.We conducted qualitative interviews to explore the strategies used by unassisted quitters, asking whether such quitting is associated with a systematic profile of techniques. Understanding these processes, we© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permit s unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.CONTACT Effie Marathia e.marathia@gmail.com School of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Law, University of Dundee, Room 1.53,Scrymgeour Building, Park Place, DD1 4HN

Keywords
Unassisted smoking cessation; self-regulation; strategies; behaviour change techniques; public health policy

Journal
Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine: Volume 14, Issue 1

• Unpacking willpower in unassisted smoking cessation: a qualitative analysis reveals a systematic profile of situational and cognitive strategies