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Social Support and Success at Stopping Smoking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Sylvia May*
Affiliation:
University College London, United Kingdom. [email protected]
Robert West
Affiliation:
University College London, United Kingdom.
Peter Hajek
Affiliation:
Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, United Kingdom.
Andy McEwen
Affiliation:
University College London, United Kingdom.
Hayden McRobbie
Affiliation:
University of Auckland, New Zealand.
*
*Address for correspondence: Sylvia May, Health Behaviour Research Centre, Dept of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 2–16 Torrington Place, London WC1E 6BT.

Abstract

This article characterises the social support received by a large sample of smokers attempting to stop and the relationship between this and the outcome of their attempt. A survey was conducted of 928 smokers attending a group-based program. Smoking among colleagues and a perception of having someone to turn to predicted outcome at the end of treatment, 4 weeks from the quit date (Odds ratio [OR] = 0.81, p = .008 and OR = 1.31, p = .003 respectively) Among those who abstained for the first week, smoking among colleagues and the frequency with which they had been offered cigarettes predicted outcome at the end of treatment (OR = 0.81, p = .04 and OR = 0.73, p = .01 respectively). There were no significant social support correlates of cessation for 26 weeks. Social support has a role to play in the short-term, but in the context of a group-based treatment program appears not to be related to long-term success.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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