Wednesday, 20 November 2002
Hilton San Francisco Exhibit Hall (0)
CESS-186-22

This presentation is part of CESS-186. Ideas on Cessation

Attitudes, Beliefs and Lack of Self-Efficacy Toward Smoking and Cessation Among Pregnant Women of Childbearing Age in Alabama: Alabama Tobacco Free Families

Chastity N. Roberts, CHES MPH, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Family and Community Medicine/ Division of Research, croberts@fms.uab.edu, Myra Crawford, MFA MPH PhD, mcrawf@fms.uab.edu, Lesa Woodby, MPH MSPH PhD, lwoodby@fms.uab.edu, Michael Hardin, MSPH PhD, mhardin@ua.edu, Wendy Horn, CHES MSPH, whorn@fms.uab.edu, Richard Windsor, MPH PhD, sphraw@gwumc.edu, Dayna Cook, BSED, dcook@fms.uab.edu.

Learning Objectives: Describe the attitudes, beliefs, and lack of self-efficacy about smoking among a representative sample of pregnant females whose maternity care is supported by Medicaid. Identify the prevalence rate of pregnant smokers whose maternity care is supported by Medicaid.

Abstract: Background: Decades of research have identified coping with stress, loneliness, powerlessness, low self-efficacy, living with or associating with a smoker, and addiction as sociopsychological factors associated with smoking and cessation among disadvantaged pregnant women.

Purpose: This paper examines the attitudes, beliefs, and lack of self-efficacy toward smoking cessation among a representative sample of pregnant Alabama females whose maternity care is supported by Medicaid.
Methods: Survey participants (n=381) were recruited from 12 public health clinics in eight Alabama counties. Saliva and CO samples were taken to corroborate smoking status. Descriptive statistics were used to define the population.
Results: Of 381 participants, 270 (68.5%) were nonsmokers and 102 (31.5%) were smokers. On a scale of 1-10 (10=very harmful), 75.6% nonsmokers and 65.7% smokers reported that smoking was very harmful. The majority of smokers (81.4%) and nonsmokers (85.7%) perceived smoking cigarettes around children as harmful to their health, while 75.5% of smokers and 90% of nonsmokers perceived smoking during pregnancy as harmful to the health of unborn babies. Although 22.6% of the smokers reported they wanted to stop smoking at this time, only 3.9% were sure they could quit smoking for 24 hours and 16% actually planned to stop completely within the next 30 days.

Conclusion: Although they are aware of the risks, many women continue to smoke during pregnancy. Data suggest a need to increase behavior modification skills (self-efficacy skill building) and implement best practice methods in smoking cessation for this population.


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