American Indian Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs About Smokeless Tobacco: A Comparison of Two Focus Group Studies

Abstract

Though smokeless tobacco (SLT) use has decreased in many communities, concern for American Indian (AI) SLT use remains, as this population continues to be disproportionally affected by SLT-related diseases. Tobacco has cultural significance to many AI tribes, therefore tobacco cessation messages portraying tobacco as entirely negative may be ineffective. As a part of our formative research for an SLT cessation intervention, we sought to gain a better understanding of the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about SLT among AI community members. We describe two independent focus group studies conducted in Montana (ten focus groups, 54 participants) and Kansas (six focus groups, 27 participants). Predominant themes emerged from three major topic areas (SLT use, program development, and recreational SLT use) during the discussions from both studies. The formative approach and data from these studies will allow us to more appropriately address SLT-related health disparities across multiple AI communities.

Investigating the Reasons for Using Smokeless Tobacco Among Adults: A Qualitative Study Based on the Grounded Theory Approach

“…Unfortunately, few interventions have been performed to address the problem in affected areas, and usually, the interventions performed have been the least effective without promising outcomes (17). One of the reasons for the ineffectiveness of these interventions is the lack of basic and in-depth information about the causes and risk factors of using smokeless tobacco (18,19). Most of the time, researchers try to use the same methods to prevent smoking, as well as to reduce smokeless tobacco consumption, but in this case, no significant success has been achieved (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25).…”