Helping hospitalized smokers in Hong Kong quit smoking by understanding their risk perception, behaviour, and attitudes related to smoking

Abstract

Aim: To understand the risk perceptions, behaviour, attitudes, and experiences related to smoking among hospitalized Chinese smokers.Background: Understanding hospitalized smokers' perceptions of risks associated with smoking, along with their behaviour, attitudes, and smoking-related experiences, is essential prerequisite to design effective interventions to help them quit smoking.Design: A phenomenological research design was adopted. Results: Four themes were generated: (a) associations between perception of illness and smoking; (b) perceived support from healthcare professionals to quit smoking; (c) impact of hospitalization on behaviour, attitudes, and experiences; and (d) perceived barriers to quitting smoking. Conclusion: Development of an innovative intervention that helps to demystify misconceptions about smoking through brief interventions and active referrals is recommended to enhance the effectiveness of healthcare professionals promoting smoking cessation for hospitalized smokers.Impact: To date, no study examining smoking behaviour among hospitalized patients in Hong Kong has been conducted. Misconceptions about smoking and health, barriers to quitting that outweighed perceived benefits, lack of support from healthcare professionals, and difficulty overcoming withdrawal symptoms or cigarette cravings precluded hospitalized smokers sustaining smoking abstinence after discharge.

Exploring Contributing Factors of Solitary Drinking among Hong Kong Chinese Adolescents and Young Adults: A Descriptive Phenomenology

“…We successfully achieved data saturation after recruiting and interviewing 44 respondents who were self-reported to exhibit solitary drinking behaviour. The current sample size was comparable to other descriptive phenomenological studies on addictive behaviours [ 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Of the respondents, 72.7% (n = 32) participated the interviews face-to-face, and the remaining opted to participate via online.…”

“…We suggest that future studies examine the role of the identified factors in this qualitative study, including enhancement and coping drinking motives, social discomfort, reduced self-control, automatic mental processes, and desperate reactions to stressors using a quantitative approach, and determine how these factors relate to solitary drinking among adolescents and young adults by controlling the confounders, such as socioeconomic factors via different statistical methods, such as linear or logistic regression. This sequential approach is also commonly adopted in the field of addictive behaviours [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 52 , 53 ]. Fifth, age would influence our respondents’ responses in the semi-structured interviews.…”

“…This approach is commonly used to summarize people’s lived experience and enables researchers to obtain in-depth descriptions of factors contributing to the phenomenon (i.e., solitary drinking) [ 22 ]. We also took reference to previous descriptive phenomenological studies on addictive behaviours in terms of the procedures and analysis methods [ 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”

A Descriptive Study on Multiple Health-Risk Behaviors among Chinese Adults in Hong Kong

“…Therefore, assisting people to engage in healthy lifestyle practices, such as quitting smoking, avoiding excessive alcohol use, maintaining a balanced diet and engaging in regular physical activity, can help prevent NCDs and improve the overall health of the population. However, despite their awareness of the associated health hazards, many people lack motivation or find it difficult to modify their health-risk behaviors, especially when there is little advice and support from healthcare professionals [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. In addition, health-risk behaviors co-occur in clusters, such that many people engage in multiple behaviors [ 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

Exploratory study on multiple health-risk behaviours among Chinese adults in Hong Kong

“…Therefore, assisting people to engage in healthy lifestyle practices, such as quitting smoking, avoiding excessive alcohol use, maintaining a balanced diet and engaging in regular physical activity, can help prevent NCDs and improve the overall health of the population. However, despite their awareness of the associated health hazards, many people lack motivation or nd it di cult to modify their health-risk behaviours, especially when there is little advice and support from healthcare professionals [7][8][9][10]. In addition, health-risk behaviours co-occur in clusters, such that many people engage in multiple behaviours [11][12][13].…”