Abstract
Increasing the rate of smoking cessation will reduce the burden of diseases related to smoking, including cancer. Understanding the process of smoking cessation is a pre-requisite to planning and developing effective programs to enhance the rate of smoking cessation.The aims of the study were to determine the demographic distribution of smokers across the initial stages of smoking cessation (the pre-contemplation and contemplation stages) and to identify the predictors of smoking cessation among Malaysian adult smokers. Data were extracted from a population-based, cross-sectional survey carried out from April 2006 to July 2006. The distribution of 2,716,743 current smokers across the pre-contemplation stage (no intention to quit smoking in the next six months) or contemplation stage (intended to quit smoking in the next six months) was described. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between socio-demographic variables and the stages of smoking cessation. Of the 2,716,743 current smokers, approximately 30% and 70% were in the pre-contemplative and contemplative stages of smoking cessation respectively. Multivariable analysis showed that male gender, low education level, older age group, married and those from higher income group and number of cigarettes smoked were associated with higher likelihood of pre-contemplation to cease smoking in the next six months. The majority of current smokers in Malaysia were in the contemplative stage of smoking cessation. Specific interventions should be implemented to ensure the pre-contemplative smokers proceed to the contemplative stage and eventually to the preparation stage.
Highlights
Smoking-related diseases are the main causes of mortality and morbidity in Malaysia over the last three decades (Division for Disease Control, 2003)
Understanding the process of smoking cessation is a pre-requisite to planning and developing effective programs to enhance the rate of smoking cessation.The aims of the study were to determine the demographic distribution of smokers across the initial stages of smoking cessation and to identify the predictors of smoking cessation among Malaysian adult smokers
The theory suggests that smoking cessation involves several stages: (1) the pre-contemplation stage- the individual is not interested to stop smoking and does not intend to stop in the six months; (2) the contemplation stage- the individual plans to quit smoking within a period of six months; (3) the preparation stage- the individual plans to quit within one month or less; (4) the action stage- the individual has made specific changes to their smoking behavior since the last six months; and (5) the maintenance stage- the individual maintains the changed behavior
Summary
Smoking-related diseases are the main causes of mortality and morbidity in Malaysia over the last three decades (Division for Disease Control, 2003). The main priority of the Malaysia Ministry of Health is to reduce the burden of smoking-related diseases and implement strategies to achieve an increase in the smoker cessation intent rate among smokers (Norsiah, 2013). Understanding the process of smoking cessation is important to formulate and develop specific and effective tobacco control programmes. The Transtheoretical Model (TTM) is based on human behavioural theory by Proschaska and Di Clemente in 1983 and explains the process of smoking cessation. In 2007, Spigner et al reported that 51.1% of American Chinese and 52.3% of Vietnamese from American were in pre-contemplation stages, whilst the percentages of American Chinese and American
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