Changing Mechanisms Corresponding to The Changing Stages of Smoking Cessation

Oh, Hyun Soo; Kim, Young Ran

Abstract

The average smoking rate for Adults' in our country is 40.6%: It is 74.2% for men and 5.0% for women. Particularly, the smoking rate for men is reported higher than that of men in U. S. A. or Japan. Since the first report on the association between smoking and cancer appeared, 370 thousand smokers have succeeded in smoking cessation and over 90% of them have responded that they depended on a self-help smoking cessation approach. Despite this positive evidence about self-help approaches for smoking cessation, most studies on smoking cessation have focused on evaluation of formal treatment programs that are provided by clinics. Reports on the smoking cessation process used by smokers in our country could not be found. However, it is believed that the situation in our country would be quite similar to that in U.S.A. as far as approaches to successful smoking cessation are concerned. This study was conducted to classify the smoking stage to which they smoker belong and which changing mechanisms could be included at each changing stage (precontemplation stage, comtem-plation stage, action stage) with a sample of 155 college students between 20 and 29 years old. And it also identified which variables related both to smoking pattern and to health, which ones were significantly discriminating in the changing stages. From the results of the data analysis it was found that Self-Determination is the most influential variable as one of the changning mechanisms which can discriminate three changing stages. And as the next significant mechanisms were Reinforcement, Dramatic Relief, Cognitive Restructuring, Helping Relationship, and Information Management in that order. Among variables related to the smoking pattern, years of regular smoking, whether smoking is continued or not even when they are sick, the number of attempts to stop smoking, number of cigarettes smoked per day, and whether they have smoked over 100 cigarettes up to now, but not the time of the first cigarette after waking-up, were the significant factors to descriminate changing stages. It was confirmed that among variables related to health that, perceived control for health, confidence of health maintence ability, and self confidence in smoking cessation, were significant variables in determinating changing stages. The most influential variables among them was self-confidence in smoking cessation. Conclusively, it was shown that smoking cessation is the process of attempting to change smoking habits through the various changing processes. Also it can be shown that a few factors smoking habit, self-confidence of smoking cessation, and belief in self control of his/her health, were influential in discriminating the changing stages of the smoking habit.