A Qualitative Study on Chinese Canadian Male Immigrants’ Perspectives on Stopping Smoking: Implications for Tobacco Control in China

Abstract

China has the largest number of smokers in the world; more than half of adult men smoke. Chinese immigrants smoke at lower rates than the mainstream population and other immigrant groups do. This qualitative study was to explore the influence of denormalization in Canada on male Chinese immigrant smoking after migration. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 22 male Chinese Canadian immigrants who were currently smoking or had quit smoking in the past 5 years. The study identified that, while becoming a prospective/father prompted the Chinese smokers to quit or reduce their smoking due to concern of the impacts of their smoking on the health of their young children, changes in smoking were also associated with the smoking environment. Four facilitators were identified which were related to the denomormalized smoking environment in Canada: (a) the stigma related to being a smoker in Canada, (b) conformity with Canadian smoking bans in public places, (c) the reduced social function of smoking in Canadian culture, and (d) the impact of graphic health messages on cigarette packs. Denormalization of tobacco in Canada in combination with collectivist values among Chinese smokers appeared to contribute to participants' reducing and quitting smoking. Although findings of the study cannot be claimed as generalizable to the wider population of Chinese Canadian immigrants due to the small number of the participants, this study provides lessons for the development of tobacco control measures in China to reverse the current prosmoking social environment.

Fathers’ Views and Experiences of Creating a Smoke-Free Home: A Scoping Review

“…Four of the seven studies identified that outlined fathers' views on facilitators and barriers associated with creating/maintaining a smoke-free home were conducted in Asian countries (two in China, one in India, and one in Japan) [33][34][35]40], and three were conducted in Canada [36][37][38][39] (with one study reported in two papers [37,38]. Four studies used qualitative methods (focus groups, semi-structured face to face interviews, and telephone interviews) to explore the fathers' views on creating/maintaining a smoke-free home [34][35][36][37][38]. Three of these studies had a wider study remit: to explore gender relations and masculinity in fathers who smoke [36]; fathers' smoking behaviours [40], and fathers' perspectives on stopping smoking [38].…”

“…Four studies used qualitative methods (focus groups, semi-structured face to face interviews, and telephone interviews) to explore the fathers' views on creating/maintaining a smoke-free home [34][35][36][37][38]. Three of these studies had a wider study remit: to explore gender relations and masculinity in fathers who smoke [36]; fathers' smoking behaviours [40], and fathers' perspectives on stopping smoking [38]. One study used mixed methods (survey and focus groups) across different study phases [33], one was a quantitative study reporting findings from a cross-sectional survey [40], and one ethnographic study drew on interview transcripts, photographs that fathers had taken to document where their smoking took place both during and after their partner's pregnancy, and field notes [39].…”

“…One study used mixed methods (survey and focus groups) across different study phases [33], one was a quantitative study reporting findings from a cross-sectional survey [40], and one ethnographic study drew on interview transcripts, photographs that fathers had taken to document where their smoking took place both during and after their partner's pregnancy, and field notes [39]. Four studies included mother and fathers [33][34][35]40] and three studies comprised exclusively of fathers [36][37][38][39].…”

The belief that secondhand smoke causes serious illness among Chinese smokers: Smoking cessation and intention to quit

“…This finding may in part be explained by Chinese culture, which values responsibility to one's family and filial piety respect for one's parents and ancestors 11,13 . China has a highly collectivistic culture in which the needs of the group come before the needs of the individual 21 . If smoking is perceived as a threat to the health of one's family, collectivism may explain a willingness among Chinese smokers to quit smoking in order to protect members of their in-group 21,22 .…”

“…China has a highly collectivistic culture in which the needs of the group come before the needs of the individual 21 . If smoking is perceived as a threat to the health of one's family, collectivism may explain a willingness among Chinese smokers to quit smoking in order to protect members of their in-group 21,22 . Social disapproval of smoking is a more significant predictor of regretting smoking in China than in Western countries, which may induce quitting smoking behavior 22,23 .…”