142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Successful smoking cessation: Does quitting for good mean sacrificing LGBTQ identity?

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Jessie Barnett, MPH, PhD , Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Jessica Legge Muilenburg, PhD , Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Corey Johnson, PhD , Qualitative Research Program, Department of Lifelong Education, Administration & Policy, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Su-I. Hou, DrPH, CPH, MCHES, RN , Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Marsha Davis, PhD , Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Given the rate of smoking in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) population is two times higher than in the general population, smoking cessation has become a major public health issue. Existing research supports the notion that LGBTQ identity is a risk factor for adopting smoking, but there is a lack of information about how (and if) LGBTQ identity and social context are involved in quitting smoking. The purpose of this study is to analyze successful smoking cessation among LGBTQ individuals and the importance of LGBTQ identity when quitting.

This study is guided by the Social Ecological Model, components of Social Cognitive Theory, and the Transtheoretical Model. Researchers employed a sequential exploratory design involving in-depth interviews with nine LGBTQ individuals in Georgia who had successfully quit smoking (and stayed quit). Researchers then created a survey informed by qualitative interview findings, disseminated the survey online and with the help of LGBTQ community centers nationwide, and performed descriptive analyses of 67 survey responses. Interview and survey findings reveal that LGBTQ identity is not heavily tied to quitting, nor does it seem to influence the quitting process.  In the end, the challenges present when quitting smoking seem to be unique to quitting smoking — not to LGBTQ identity or fear of losing LGBTQ identity. This finding, along with results about successful quitting methods, has major implications for how smoking cessation is approached within the LGBTQ community.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Advocacy for health and health education
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Explain that LGBTQ identity is a significant risk factor smoking uptake. Discuss implications to smoking cessation tactics now that it is known LGBTQ identity is not strongly tied to the quitting process. Identify cigarette smoking prevention in the LGBTQ community as extremely important.

Keyword(s): Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT), Tobacco Use

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract author on the content I am responsible for because I was the main researcher for this particular study and my personal research area of focus is LGBTQ health disparities and positive behavior change.
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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