[Reasons for smoking cessation in Spain by gender and age]

Características biopsicosociales relacionadas con el consumo de cigarrillo y la intención de cesación en fumadores en un entorno universitario

Introducción. El tratamiento de la dependencia tabáquica requiere la comprensión de múltiples factores que determinan los patrones de consumo y la posibilidad de lograr un cambio conductual. Objetivo. Establecer las características biopsicosociales asociadas con el consumo de cigarrillo y la intención de cesación de los usuarios de un programa interdisciplinario para dejar de fumar en un entorno universitario.Materiales y métodos. Estudio descriptivo transversal. Se revisaron las historias clínicas de 134 usuarios del programa que completaron la fase de evaluación.Resultados. 56.7% de los participantes presentó un grado leve de tabaquismo; además, 67.2% tuvo una baja dependencia a la nicotina. Se encontró una tamización positiva para ansiedad y depresión en el 62.7% y 34.3% de la muestra, respectivamente. La mayoría de sujetos tenía por lo menos un amigo fumador (91%) (n=122) y había realizado al menos un intento previo de cesación (85.1%) (n=114); los individuos con riesgo de desarrollar ansiedad presentaron un mayor consumo diario de cigarrillos (Kruskal-Wallis p=0.041) que aquellos que no estaban en riesgo.Conclusiones. Diferentes aspectos personales, familiares y contextuales determinan la posibilidad de iniciar, continuar y/o recaer en el consumo de cigarrillos, por lo que la implementación de intervenciones efectivas exige la comprensión integral de los factores implicados en su consumo y en la intención de cesación.

Coping Strategies and Social Support in a Mobile Phone Chat App Designed to Support Smoking Cessation: Qualitative Analysis

Background

Smoking is one of the most significant factors contributing to low life expectancy, health inequalities, and illness at the worldwide scale. Smoking cessation attempts benefit from social support. Mobile phones have changed the way we communicate through the use of freely available message-oriented apps. Mobile app–based interventions for smoking cessation programs can provide interactive, supportive, and individually tailored interventions.

Objective

This study aimed to identify emotions, coping strategies, beliefs, values, and cognitive evaluations of smokers who are in the process of quitting, and to analyze online social support provided through the analysis of messages posted to a chat function integrated into a mobile app.

Methods

In this descriptive qualitative study, informants were smokers who participated in the chat of Tobbstop. The technique to generate information was documentary through messages collected from September 2014 through June 2016, specifically designed to support a smoking cessation intervention. A thematic content analysis of the messages applied 2 conceptual models: the Lazarus and Folkman model to assess participant’s experiences and perceptions and the Cutrona model to evaluate online social support.

Results

During the study period, 11,788 text messages were posted to the chat by 101 users. The most frequent messages offered information and emotional support, and all the basic emotions were reported in the chat. The 3 most frequent coping strategies identified were physical activity, different types of treatment such as nicotine replacement, and humor. Beliefs about quitting smoking included the inevitability of weight gain and the notion that not using any type of medications is better for smoking cessation. Health and family were the values more frequently described, followed by freedom. A smoke-free environment was perceived as important to successful smoking cessation. The social support group that was developed with the app offered mainly emotional and informational support.

Conclusions

Our analysis suggests that a chat integrated into a mobile app focused on supporting smoking cessation provides a useful tool for smokers who are in the process of quitting, by offering social support and a space to share concerns, information, or strategies.

Quiénes quieren dejar fumar y su disposición a pagar por cesación en Panamá

Objetivo. Caracterizar el deseo de cesación y disposición al pago por una terapia de abandono de consumo de tabaco. Material y métodos. La fuente de los datos es la Encuesta Mundial de Tabaco en Adultos (EMTA). Se caracterizó la cesación y la disposición al pago mediante variables sociodemográficas (SOD) y socioeconómicas (SES). Se realizaron regresiones logísticas para estimar asociaciones. Resultados. El mayor deseo de cesación se observó en las mujeres, aspecto educativo, empleado no gubernamental e inactivo, zona rural, fumadores ocasionales, ingresos medios y la mayor disposición al pago, en educación, mayores de 60 años, empleado no gubernamental y cuenta propia, zona urbana, fumadores ocasionales e ingreso medio bajo. Conclusiones. Existe una alta relación entre el deseo de abandono y la disposición al pago con las variables SOD y SES. Las terapias de cesación pueden aplicarse en centros de trabajo y exigen un cambio de enfoque en la intervención.

Addiction and Other Reasons Adolescent Smokers Give to Justify Smoking

BACKGROUND

The primary purpose of this paper is to examine youth addiction and other justifications for adolescent smoking, and how they affect the level of consumption.

METHODS

Data from the Spanish 'State Survey on Drug Use among High School Students' aged between 14 and 18 years old were used in this paper. To account for the nature of the cigarette consumption data, several count data models were estimated in order to select the one that best fits adolescent smoking consumption.

RESULTS

Most adolescent smokers smoke because it relaxes them, and about a quarter of them recognize that they are addicted. Moreover, the latter group smoke 44% more cigarettes than the rest (IRR = 1.444), revealing the strong addictive nature of tobacco, even at early ages. Moreover, parents' smoking increases the probability of smoking and has an impact on the level of consumption.

CONCLUSIONS

The implications of these findings offer insight for parents, researchers, educators, and cessation interventionists, as awareness of self-reported and other predictors held by smoking youth creates a vantage point to facilitate changes in smoking behavior.

The many faces of tobacco use among women

Smoking is still considered to be mainly a male problem. However, it is estimated that there are approximately 250 million women worldwide who smoke cigarettes and millions more women who use smokeless tobacco products. This article addresses the many facets of tobacco use among women. The aim of the paper is to increase recognition among clinicians and researchers of the specific characteristics of female tobacco use. Together with providing epidemiological data on the distribution of tobacco use among women and data from population-based analyses on sociocultural factors that influence it, the article presents tobacco use during pregnancy as a particularly important public health problem. Further, the article points out sex-related differences (ie, physiological, psychological, or behavioral) between male and female tobacco use. A special focus is on the important role of ovarian hormones. Adverse effects of tobacco use to women and their children as well as tobacco-related morbidities and comorbidities are presented, and women's greater susceptibility to tobacco constituents as compared to men is stressed. Awareness of these differences can contribute to improvement of the effectiveness of smoking cessation programs addressed both to the specific female population and to an individual smoking woman.