Year-end Sale % OFF 
Abstract
Remarkable disparities in smoking rates in the United States contribute significantly to socioeconomic and minority health disparities. Access to treatment for tobacco use can help address these disparities, but quitlines, our most ubiquitous treatment resource, reach just 1%–2% of smokers. We used community-based participatory methods to develop a survey instrument to assess barriers to use of the quitline in the Arkansas Mississippi delta. Barriers were quitline specific and barriers to cessation more broadly. Over one-third (34.9%) of respondents (n = 799) did not have access to a telephone that they could use for the quitline. Respondents reported low levels of knowledge about the quitline, quitting, and trust in tobacco treatment programs as well as considerable ambivalence about quitting including significant concerns about getting sick if they quit and strong faith-based beliefs about quitting. These findings suggest quitlines are not accessible to all lower socioeconomic groups and that significant barriers to use include barriers to cessation. These findings suggest targets for providing accessible tobacco use treatment services and addressing concerns about cessation among lower income, ethnic minority, and rural groups.
Highlights
Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States (U.S.) and is a leading contributor to health disparities [1,2,3,4,5,6]
We believe the findings are germane and important because no level of tobacco use is safe and all current and former tobacco users are potential users of tobacco dependence treatment services. These findings are limited by a lack of specificity in the reasons why respondents did not have access to a telephone to use the quitline. These findings indicate that a large proportion of tobacco users who experience some of the most significant health disparities in the United States (US) do not have the telephonic resources to use quitlines, our most ubiquitous tobacco treatment modality
These findings suggest that knowledge about and trust in the quitline is remarkably low among these groups, at least in the Mississippi Delta region
Summary
Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States (U.S.) and is a leading contributor to health disparities [1,2,3,4,5,6]. In the US, the prevalence of cigarette smoking has declined significantly; remarkable tobacco use disparities have emerged among groups defined by income, ethnic minority status, geographic region, and other characteristics resulting in disproportionate burdens of tobacco-related disease [7]. More rural residents live in poverty than residents of metropolitan areas [9] and more African Americans live in poverty than whites [10] suggesting that urbanicity and race are important factors to consider when examining tobacco disparities. Public Health 2016, 13, 15; doi:10.3390/ijerph13010015 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
