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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Frederick J. Kviz, PhD1, Mayumi A. Willgerodt, PhD, MPH, RN2, Timothy P Johnson, PhD3, Melissa A. Clark, PhD4, Young Ik Cho, MA, PhD3, Noel Chavez, PhD, RD1, Nadine Peacock, PhD1, Michael Glasser, PhD5, and Sally Freels, PhD6. (1) School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1603 W. Taylor Street, M/C 923, Chicago, IL 60612, 312-996-4889, fkviz@uic.edu, (2) College of Nursing, Family and Child Nursing, University of Washington, Box 357262, Seattle, WA 98195, (3) Survey Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago, 412 S. Peoria St., Chicago, IL 60607, (4) Center for Gerontology & Health Care Research, Brown University, Box G-H, Providence, RI 02912, (5) Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, 1601 Parkview Ave, Rockford, IL 61107, (6) School of Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1603 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612
For persons of all ages, smoking cessation has substantial and almost immediate health benefits. More than one half of current smokers are age 45 or older. Despite research reporting age differences in readiness to quit smoking and smoking cessation behaviors, little attention has been given to age-related factors in designing strategies to motivate and assist smokers to quit, particularly among populations of color. Effective interventions may require strategies that are tailored to their particular needs and perceptions. How people respond to symptoms has been shown in previous research to be an important factor for understanding illness behaviors. This suggests that symptoms perceptions also may be important for changing a health behavior such as cigarette smoking, which may be associated with the onset or exacerbation of certain symptoms, particularly among mid-life and older smokers. Moreover, there are substantial differences in how members of different cultural groups perceive and respond to symptoms. We present findings from focus groups about cognitive and behavioral responses to symptoms among mid-life and older Korean and Chinese males in the U.S. who were either current smokers or former smokers. The findings of this study suggest that incorporating culturally-anchored knowledge about the influence of symptomatology on smokers' intentions and behaviors to quit smoking may help health professionals to be more effective in counseling and assisting smokers to quit smoking.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Culture, Smoking Cessation
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.