205388 What motivates former smokers and current smokers to quit in Maryland

Wednesday, November 11, 2009: 9:30 AM

Robert H. Feldman, PhD , Department of Public and Community Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Olivia Carter-Pokras, PhD , Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Maryland, Silver Spring, MD
Mariano Kanamori, MA , PhD Program. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics., University of Maryland College Park School of Public Health, College Park, MD
Cong Ye, MS , Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Richard Valliant, PhD , UMCP Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Guangyu Zhang, PhD , School of Public Health - Epidemiolgy and Biostatistics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Robert Fiedler , Family Health Administration, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Baltinore, MD
  
Smoking is the leading cause of disease and death in Maryland. To better understand the quitting process in Maryland we examined data from the 2006 Maryland Adult Tobacco Survey (MATS), one of the largest tobacco surveys in the U.S. (n=21,799). Ex-smokers and smokers were given a list of 14 reasons why people quit smoking. The top reason among both ex-smokers (34.5%) and smokers (40.7%) was physical fitness. In examining ethnic minorities, the MATS found that Latino ex-smokers (22.3%) and smokers (23.0%) were significantly less likely than White ex-smokers (36.6%) and smokers (41.7%) to state that physical fitness was a reason. The second most reported reason for ex-smokers (33.3%) was concern about health hazards, with Latinos (22.8%) less likely to report health hazards than Whites (35.5%). The second most reported reason to quit for smokers was personal health problems (38.5%) with Latinos (32.4%) being the least likely to report this reason compared to other ethnic groups (nonsignificant). To further understand the quitting process among Maryland Latinos, we conducted a series of focus groups among Latino ex-smokers and smokers. We found that social influences—health of children/family and role model pressures--were important motivators to quit for both Latino ex-smokers and smokers. These quantitative and qualitative data provide a better understanding of ethnic differences among ex-smokers and smokers, and support improved design of smoking cessation programs tailored to the motivators of specific groups.

Learning Objectives:
1. Name the leading reasons why people quit smoking in Maryland. 2. Identify important motivators for quitting smoking among Latino ex-smokers and smokers in Maryland.

Keywords: Health Disparities, Tobacco Control

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I contributed to the analysis and writing of the abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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