BARRIERS TO SMOKING CESSATION: RESULTS OF A SURVEY AMONG FAMILY PRACTICE PATIENTS

Results

A total of 100 patients were interviewed, among them 96 (96%) were men. The mean age was 37.4 years. Sixty one (61%) respondents were married and fifty three (53%) were graduates. Forty (40%) of the respondents were in private service and self-employed (Table 1).

Table 2 lists the smoking cessation behavior. Fifty two (52%) respondents wanted to give up smoking while fifty five (55%) had tried to do so in the past. Smoking cessation was attempted at least three times by nineteen (19%) respondents. Age at the first attempt at smoking cessation was between 21 to 40 years among forty two (76%) respondents.

Ninety one (91%) respondents gave up smoking during the fasting month of Ramadan. Craving for smoking, habit of smoking and enjoyment derived from smoking were quoted as reasons for not continuing with smoking cessation after Ramadan, among thirty one (31%), thirty (30%) and twenty seven (27%) respondents respectively (Table 3)

Table 4 lists the perceived smoking cessation barrier among the smokers. Craving for smoking, fears of inability to cope with stress and an increase in irritability were reported by seventy four (30%), forty six (19%) and forty two (17%) respondents respectively.

TABLE 1
DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF THE PATIENTS
(n=100)

*Standard Deviation