Perceived difficulty quitting predicts enrollment in a smoking-cessation program for patients with head and neck cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the predictors of participation in a smoking-cessation program among patients with head and neck cancer.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study is a substudy of a larger, randomized trial of patients with head and neck cancer that determined the predictors of smokers' participation in a cessation intervention.


METHODS
Otolaryngology clinics at three Veterans Affairs medical centers (Ann Arbor, MI, Gainesville, FL, and Dallas, TX), and the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor.


METHODS
286 patients who had smoked within six months of the screening survey were eligible for a smoking-cessation intervention.


METHODS
Descriptive statistics and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to determine the independent predictors of smokers' participation in an intervention study.


METHODS
Perceived difficulty quitting (as a construct of self-efficacy), health behaviors (i.e., smoking and problem drinking), clinical characteristics (i.e., depression and cancer site and stage), and demographic variables.


RESULTS
Forty-eight percent of those eligible participated. High perceived difficulty quitting was the only statistically significant predictor of participation, whereas problem drinking, lower depressive symptoms, and laryngeal cancer site approached significance.


CONCLUSIONS
Special outreach may be needed to reach patients with head and neck cancer who are overly confident in quitting, problem drinkers, and patients with laryngeal cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
Oncology nurses are in an opportune position to assess patients' perceived difficulty quitting smoking and motivate them to enroll in cessation programs, ultimately improving quality of life, reducing risk of recurrence, and increasing survival for this population.
Duffy
Sonia A
SA
School of Nursing, Department of Otolaryngology, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. bump@umich.edu
Scheumann
Angela L
AL
Fowler
Karen E
KE
Darling-Fisher
Cynthia
C
Terrell
Jeffrey E
JE
D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009859:Oncology Nursing; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020377:Self Efficacy; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data