Learning Objectives: Attendees will be able to identify two reasons for joining smoking cessation programs that teens feel are important.
Abstract:
Problem/Objective: School based smoking cessation programs have had limited success attracting students. A variety of recruitment methods to increase enrollment have been reported in the literature. According to social cognitive theory, outcome expectations play a significant role in motivating behavior.
Methods: The perceived importance of considerations in favor of ("pros") and against ("cons") joining a smoking cessation program were measured in a sample of 321 high school students who smoke.
Results: Overall, the most important consideration in joining a program to quit smoking was to learn ways to stay healthy. The importance of different pros or cons of joining a program did not vary significantly by age or gender. Students who responded 'yes' to the question 'do you want to quit smoking for good' were significantly more likely to view 'learning how to stop smoking' as a highly important reason than those who responded 'no' or 'not sure' to that question. Students who responded 'no' were significantly more likely to rate 'getting to be with other students like me' as highly important than students who responded 'yes' or 'not sure'. Students who responded 'not sure' were significantly more likely to rate 'being pressured to stop smoking' as important than students who responded 'no'.
Conclusions: Results suggest that students join smoking cessation programs for a variety of reasons, but many will be motivated to join programs that emphasize learning to stay healthy regardless of their plans to quit for good.
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Back to Cessation, Nicotine, and the Science of Addiction
Back to The 2003 National Conference on Tobacco or Health (December 10-12, 2003)