Journal Article

Smoking and environmental characteristics of smokers with a mental illness, and associations with quitting behaviour and motivation; a cross sectional study

Metse, Alexandra P., Wiggers, John, Wye, Paula, Wolfenden, Luke, Stockings, Emily, Freund, Megan, Moore, Lyndell, Bowman, Jenny A., Van Zeist, Tara, Clancy, Richard

2016

Overview

Background Persons with a mental illness are less likely to be successful in attempts to quit smoking. A number of smoking and environmental characteristics have been shown to be related to quitting behaviour and motivation of smokers generally, however have been less studied among smokers with a mental illness. This study aimed to report the prevalence of smoking characteristics and a variety of physical and social environmental characteristics of smokers with a mental illness, and explore their association with quitting behaviour and motivation. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study was undertaken of 754 smokers admitted to four psychiatric inpatient facilities in Australia. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were undertaken to explore the association between smoking and environmental characteristics and recent quitting behaviour and motivation. Results Participants were primarily daily smokers (93 %), consumed >10 cigarettes per day (74 %), and highly nicotine dependent (51 %). A third (32 %) lived in a house in which smoking was permitted, and 44 % lived with other smokers. The majority of participants believed that significant others (68–82 %) and health care providers (80–91 %) would be supportive of their quitting smoking. Reflecting previous research, the smoking characteristics examined were variously associated with quitting behaviour and motivation. Additionally, participants not living with other smokers were more likely to have quit for a longer duration ( OR 2.02), and those perceiving their psychiatrist to be supportive of a quit attempt were more likely to have had more quit attempts in the past six months ( OR 2.83). Conclusions Modifiable characteristics of the physical and social environment, and of smoking, should be considered in smoking cessation interventions for persons with a mental illness.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adolescent / Adult / Age / Aged / Aged, 80 and over / Australia - epidemiology / Biostatistics / Characteristics / Child / Cigarette smoking / Cigarettes / Consent / Cross-Sectional Studies / Data collection / Drug addiction / Emotional disorders / Environment / Environmental Health / Epidemiology / Ethics / Evaluation / Female / Health aspects / Health behavior / health promotion and society / Hospitalization / Hospitals, Psychiatric / Humans / Intervention / Interviews / Logistic Models / Male / Medical records / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mental disorders / Mental Disorders - epidemiology / Mental health care / Mental illness / Mentally ill / Middle Aged / Mood disorders / Motivation / Multivariate Analysis / Native peoples / Nicotine / Prevalence / Public Health / Qualitative research / Quitting / Regression analysis / Research Article / Secondary schools / Smokers / Smoking / Smoking - epidemiology / Smoking - psychology / Smoking cessation / Smoking Cessation - psychology / Smoking cessation programs / Social / Social aspects / Social Environment / Studies / Time Factors / Tobacco / Vaccine / Young Adult