Purpose: Determine if smoking cessation intervention is more effective with a support person. The relationships between variables important to smoking cessation will be examined.
Significance of Study:30% of cancer deaths are smoking related (ACS, 2000). Lifestyle changes could decrease morbidity and mortality from cancer by 2/3. Most cancer research is aimed at cure, rather than prevention (Champion, 2001). This study is aimed at prevention of smoking related cancers.
Theoretical Framework: The Transtheoretical Model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983) consists of 5 stages of change: precontemplation (not ready to change), contemplation (thinking about making a change in the next 6 months), preparation (planning to make a change in the next 30 days), action (making the change), maintenance and relapse. Processes of change are activities within each stage promoting change. In pilot work, the process of change helping relationships moved smokers from being ready to quit to quitting smoking (Andersen & Keller, 2002).
Methods: This quasi-experimental study will use subjects participating in FreshStart classes. A gift worth ten dollars will be given to each subject for completing surveys at baseline and four weeks. Classes will be randomly assigned to buddy condition or control a priori. Classes meet weekly for four weeks. In week five, subjects will be contacted to determine smoking status. Subjects will complete weekly logs describing use of buddy, use of pharmacotherapeutics, and smoking behavior.
Implications for Practice: Findings from this study will enable nurses to identify targeted strategies that can be used with clients ready to quit smoking. The low cost intervention is portable to urban and rural areas. Independent variables include: helping relationships, self-efficacy, stage of change and level of addiction. Outcome variables are point prevalence (smoking in prior week) and stage transition. Multiple regression and ANOVA statistics will be used for data analysis.
Back to Accepted Posters
Back to 37th Biennial Convention - Scientific Session
Sigma Theta Tau International