Smoking cessation during pregnancy: the influence of partners, family and friends on quitters and non-quitters

Abstract

This research compared pregnant quitters' and non-quitters' accounts of how partners, family and friends influenced their smoking cessation attempts. Qualitative secondary data analysis was carried out on a purposive sample of motivational interview transcripts undertaken by research midwives with pregnant women as part of SmokeChange, a smoking cessation intervention. Interviews with all quitters in the intervention group (N=12) were analysed comparatively with interviews from a matched sample of non-quitters (N=12).The discourses of both revealed similarity in how their partners, family and friends influenced their cessation efforts: salient others were simultaneously perceived by both groups of women as providing drivers and barriers to quit attempts; close associates who smoked were often perceived to be as supportive as those who did not. However, women who quit smoking during pregnancy talked more about receiving active praise/encouragement than those who did not. While close associates play an important role in women's attempts to stop smoking during pregnancy, the support they provide varies; further research is needed to develop a better understanding of how key relationships help or hinder cessation during pregnancy.

Is low birth weight in the causal pathway of the association between maternal smoking in pregnancy and higher BMI in the offspring?

“…There is, however, only scarce epidemiological evidence for this assumption. While two studies suggested that potential effects might be stronger in male children (39,40), others showed similar odds ratios for overweight and obesity in male and female offspring (5,41). The results from the latter studies are well in accordance with those from our previous study (34) and the present one, in neither of which we found indications of sex-specific effect modifications.…”

Experiences and Views of Pregnant Women on Smoking

“…The pregnant women think that nicotine consumption can make their children more sensitive to dependence, which was also described by Woolston (2006). Koshy et al (2010), and the experiences of the participants in the interviews in Estonian three women`s clinics, it appeared that the pregnancy is a significant motivator for quitting smoking, but smokers had an opinion that the child of the woman who is smoking during pregnancy will weigh less and thus, it will be easier to give a birth. Some women knew that being in smoky rooms affects the health as well as smoking.…”

“…According to this understanding, smoking is allowed until the birth of a child and this is not condemnable , which was also proved by the research for fathers, described by Giglia et al (2006), where most fathers stopped smoking after the birth of a child explaining that with a feeling that until the birth, the expected child was not real yet. According to the experiences of the participants in the interviews in three women`s clinics, living together with a smoking partner is the main inhibiting factor in smoking cessation permitting access to cigarettes and promoting to make a comfortable environment for smoking, and by Koshy et al (2010) and Tombor et al (2010), smoking is a common way to spend time together. Factors that inhibit smoking cessation were brought out by the participants: when quitting smoking you have to give up your good mood, tranquillity, sweets and coffee.…”

“…As marked by Shih, S.F. et al (2008) Koshy et al (2010), it is efficient to quit smoking with the partner who also wants to stop smoking. From the article of Lanting et al (2009) it turns out that convincing not to light a cigarette is more efficient than blaming, which contains a smoking cessation plan.…”

“…Based on the researches of Lanting et al (2009) and Vasina et al (2012), it appears that women smoking during their pregnancy have similar social status: a low level of education, they often do not have a permanent job, they are single, under 20 years old pregnant women smoke more often than over 2030 years old pregnant women and they are single mostly, and by Koshy et al (2010), smokers are bad examples for their daughters. As reported by Gilman et al (2008), the level of education is linked to earlier exposure to smoking and consuming first cigarette immediately after waking.…”