What is the Single Best Thing You Can Do to Quit Smoking?
Should I enroll my child in a prevention program?
School-based programs will support your conversations with your child about smoking, thus reinforcing the no smoking rule in your household. If your school does not have a tobacco prevention program, find a program for your child in your local area. Then suggest through the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) that your school develop one. The information found in these questions should give you ideas about designing a program for your school and community. Not only will your child benefit from attending a prevention program, but if you are smoker, you will benefit, too.
My spouse is a heavy smoker who refuses to get help to quit. What should I do?
There is not much you can do until he or she is ready to quit. Many smokers have tried to quit but have not been successful. Consequently, they have “given up.” Others remember the discomforts of the withdrawal symptoms and would rather not have to go through that experience again. Other people freely admit that they love to smoke and do not want to give it up. Different personalities and different experiences contribute to different attitudes toward smoking. Many smokers do not realize that new ways are available to assist smokers to quit, which may decrease the negative experiences of withdrawal. If the smoker is willing to think about the possibility of quitting, a spouse can help by collecting information about smoking cessation programs and provide his or her loved one with information about the opportunities for quitting.
A “Change Model,” or the “Trans-Theoretical Model” is a process model that identifies stages that a smoker must traverse in order to achieve abstinence. The stages are:
• Pre-contemplation: The person is aware that he or she has a problem but has not seriously thought about making a change.
• Contemplation: The person begins to see that the behavior is a problem and seriously considers making a change but remains ambivalent about doing so.
• Preparation: The person has decided to make a change and has a specific plan to do so in the near future.
• Action: The person implements an action plan and begins to make the desired changes.
• Maintenance: The person has made the desired change and works to avoid relapsing into the original behavior (smoking).
• Termination: The person is safely through the process, experiences zero temptation, and have the ability to resist any temptation 100% of the time. If a spouse understands these phases, he or she can help a loved one along the pathway to abstinence. During the pre contemplation and contemplation stages, if the loved one is open to discussion, the spouse can provide information, and also they can talk about a future plan to quit and what the spouse can do to help the smoker quit. Together they can identify a “quit” date. The spouse can provide empathy and support during the next two phases, preparation, and action. The nonsmoker spouse may have to overlook the irritability that the smoker is feeling that may lead to some negative behaviors. The “blues” also may contribute to behavior changes. The negatives should be ignored and the positives should be supported. The spouse can help with the maintenance phase by ensuring that the couple’s social life takes place only in smoke-free environments and that they socialize solely with nonsmokers. The spouse should constantly offer support during the maintenance and termination stages as well as throughout the withdrawal process. A supportive, loving relationship can go a long way to helping the smoker along the path to a healthy lifestyle.
Joseph’s comment:
For many years, I dabbled in trying to quit here and there with little success. Even with the physical ramifications of smoking starting to affect my body, I seemed to have no success. No matter how many people tried to help and encourage me from the outside, I truly don’t think I could get on the journey to quitting until I hit my own personal bottom. I tried “smoking cessations” once before, with no luck. Like the old saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.” My second time around, when it came up to the quit date, I put the cigarette down, using the “patch” as an aid, and made it through the first 24 hours. I was so filled with hope that I tried for another day and succeeded. At that point, I felt I was in a “zone.” I stopped looking at it as quitting forever and just not smoking one day at a time
EPIDEMIOLOGY
What is Healthy People 2010? Is smoking cessation included in its national goals?
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has been setting national objectives for Americans’ health since the 1980s when it first published Health Objectives for the Nation. Subsequently, it published Healthy People 2000 and recently Healthy People 2010. DHHS is responsible for overseeing the nation’s health. Their goals have been established to improve the health status of the U.S. population as well as the availability and quality of health services so the life span of Americans can be extended. DHHS encourages the establishment of prevention programs, including smoking cessation, and monitors the national health status and the achievement of the goals set in the Healthy People 2000 and 2010 reports. Every ten years, a Healthy People report that addresses the national public health trends is presented to the Secretary of DHHS, the President, and the U.S. Congress. The report also includes goals on prevention and strategies to be achieved over the next 10-year period. Both Healthy People 2000 and 2010 have two overarching goals: to increase the quality of health care during each American’s lifetime and to eliminate health disparities. Ten indicators are used to measure the nation’s health. Each of the indicators reflects a major health concern.
The health indicators are listed as follows:
1. Physical activity
2. Overweight and obesity
3. Tobacco use
4. Substance abuse
5. Responsible sexual behavior
6. Mental health
7. Injury and violence
8. Environmental quality
9. Immunization
10. Access to health care
The indicators 3, 4, and 8 are factors involving tobacco use and addiction. Health indicators are selected based on the ability to motivate the public to act, the availability of the data to measure progress, and the importance of the indicator to the overall health of Americans. The selection process is done by consensus. The authors of the document are from both the private and public sectors of communities across the country. The report is the outcome of a shared vision about improving the health of the nation, preventing disease, and improving the quality of life of all citizens.
The Healthy People reports are used by many organizations, communities, and policy-makers to measure, compare, and improve the health status of local communities. Information for specific health issues is also developed and distributed to special populations, such as gays and lesbians, people with disabilities, rural health populations, women’s health organizations, and healthcare professionals who work with special populations. Healthy People 2010 provide a framework for health advocates to develop strategies to improve access to quality health care. Many public health officials consider tobacco-related diseases as the most critical healthcare concern, particularly because these diseases are easily preventable through public education, legislation, and the development of prevention and cessation programs.
What are the rights of smokers and nonsmokers?
Smokers’ organizations throughout the United States have developed to combat what they perceive has been a systematic effort to deprive them of their rights. The two main organizations are the American Smokers Alliance and the National Smokers Alliance. Other smokers’ rights groups with international membership include Freedom Organization for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (FOREST) and Fight Ordinances and Restrictions to Control and Eliminate Smoking (FORCES). Controversy has surrounded these organizations due to their link with tobacco companies Smoker’s Rights
The following are the Smokers’ Bill of Rights:
As a smoker, I am entitled to certain inalienable rights, among them:
• The right to the pursuit of happiness
• The right to choose to smoke
• The right to enjoy a traditional American custom
• The right to be treated courteously
• The right to accommodation in the workplace
• The right to accommodation in public places
• The right to unrestricted access to commercial information about products
• The right to purchase products without excessive taxation
• The right to freedom from unnecessary government intrusion
If you do a Google search using “smokers’ rights” as keywords, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company comes up at the top of the list. In order to better understand the perspective of the tobacco company’s positions regarding smokers’ rights and the sale of cigarettes, you may visit their Web site. Below is a short excerpt that gives an example of their guiding principles and beliefs:
• Nicotine in tobacco products is addictive but is not considered a significant threat to health.
• No tobacco product has been shown to be safe.
• An individual’s level of risk for serious disease is significantly affected by the type of tobacco product used as well as the manner and frequency of use
TOBACCO REGULATION
• Tobacco products should be regulated in a reasonable and consistent manner, and they should remain legal and consumer-acceptable. The prohibition, in any form, of tobacco products is neither practical nor desirable.
• Smoking restrictions should exempt adult venues such as bars and taverns.
HARM REDUCTION
• Decreasing the health risks and harm directly associated with the use of tobacco products is in everyone’s best interest.
• Adult tobacco consumers should have access to a range of tobacco, nicotine, and cessation products and should be given information in order to make an informed choice on the relative risks of each product.
Nonsmoker’s Rights
Organizations like the Group Against Smoking and Pollution (GASP), founded in 1971, developed anti-smoking chapters throughout the country to limit smoking in public areas, including restaurants, airplanes, trains, and buses. The organization developed a Bill of Rights for Nonsmokers. It focused attention on environmental smoke. By the 1990s, anti-smoking groups and public health advocates had effectively influenced state legislators to limit public use of tobacco products. By then, consumers no longer tolerated even low risks to health from secondary smoke. The following is the Bill of Rights for Nonsmokers.
I have the right to:
• Be smoke-free in any situation
• Review my list of reasons to stop smoking frequently, particularly before any social gathering
• Ask others not to smoke in my home, office, or car
• Sit in nonsmoking sections
• Support legislation to protect nonsmokers from the dangers of passive smoking in public places
