Decisional balance corresponding to the Stage of Change of Smoking Cessation in Middle Aged Men

Chang, Sung Ok; Park, Chang Seung; Min, In Sun

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was done to identify the factors of decisional balance for smoking cessation among middle aged men in Korea. This was composed of a set of variables at the level of decision making when middle aged men decide to stop smoking. It was used to classify and identify the characteristics of the stages of change for smoking cessation to which the middle aged men belong, and was used to identify the variables of decisional balance which influenced the stages of change for smoking cessation in middle aged men.
METHODS
A convenience sample of 169 men who had smoked and were smoking, were between age 30 and 60 and lived in Seoul(mean age=44), were selected from the community. The data was collected from December 10, 1999 to February 28, 2000. The research instrument was the Decisional Balance Measure for Smoking Cessation (Velicer et al., 1985), and Stage of Change Measure(DiClemente et al., 1991). The data were analyzed using the SAS Program.
RESULTS
1. According to stage of change measure, the 169 subjects were distributed in each stage of change for smoking cessation: in the pre-contemplation stage 63 subjects (32.7%), contemplation stage 60 subjects (35.5%), preparation stage 17 subjects (10.1%), and maintenance stage 29 subjects(17.2%). 2. Factor analysis identified 4 factors of decisional balance as appropriate factors for smoking cessation of middle aged men. There were named by the researchers; 1)'Perceived Burden to Self', 2) 'Perceived Benefit to Others' 3)'Perceived Approval to Others', and 4)'Perceived Disapproval to Self'. 3. Analysis of variance showed that the three components, 1)'Perceived Burden to Self(F=8.50, P=0.0001)', 2) 'Perceived Benefit to Others(F=3.19, P=0.025)' and 3)'Perceived DisApproval to Self(F=2.87, P=0.038)were significantly associated with stage of change. 4. Through discriminant analysis, it was found that 'Perceived Burden to self' was the most influential variable in discriminating the four stages of change(pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, and maintenance).
CONCLUSION
The results are consistent with the application of the Transtheoretical model, which has been used to understand how people change health behavior. Even though this study is a cross-sectional, not a longitudinal study, the findings of this study give useful information for smoking cessation intervention for the middle aged men.