[Nicotine dependence, smoking-related attitude, and subjective norms across the stages of change for smoking cessation among adults smokers in a rural area].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to identify nicotine dependence, smoking-related attitude, and subjective norms across the stages of change for smoking cessation among adult smokers in a rural area.


METHODS
The subjects were 276 current smokers (male=243, female=33). There were 3 stages of change for smoking cessation: pre-contemplation, contemplation, and preparation stage. Data was collected by an interview or self-reporting from February 12th to March 5th 2004, and analyzed with frequency, percentage, chi- square-test, Fisher's exact probability test, ANOVA, and Scheffe test using the SPSS-PC program.


RESULTS
According to the stages of change, 114(41.3%) current smokers were in pre-contemplation, 110(39.9%) in contemplation, and 52(18.8%) in the preparation stage. There was a higher percentage of males than females (chi- square=8.99, p=.011) in the preparation stage. The mean score of the smoking-related attitude (F=7.43, p=.001) and subjective norm(F=27.41, p=.001) were both lowest in the pre-contemplation stage and increased positively during the stages of change for smoking cessation.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on these findings, the authors recommend that community-based smoking cessation programs should be developed by considering the intention or motives of current smokers and should be initiated in the preparation stage and primarily for male groups.
Kim
Young Hee
YH
Department of Nursing, Woosuk University, Korea.
Seo
Nam Sook
NS
Kang
Hae Young
HY
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009538:Nicotine; D012424:Rural Population; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000523:psychology*
D009538:Nicotine