Cigarette smoking is not only known to cause various diseases but can cause serious problems for adolescents whose cells and tissue are not developed completely. Recently the rates of adolescent smoking in Korea has increased rapidly, and various hea...
Cigarette smoking is not only known to cause various diseases but can cause serious problems for adolescents whose cells and tissue are not developed completely. Recently the rates of adolescent smoking in Korea has increased rapidly, and various health problems related to smoking can be expected to increase in the future. To decrease the smoking rate among adolescents, research is being done from different perspectives, but in spite of the effort, smoking rates are continuously increasing and the age of first experimentation with tobacco is decreasing.
Studies on smoking behavior report that frequent relapses are due to low perceived self-regulatory efficacy. Perceived self-regulatory efficacy can be defined as perceived ability to exercise adequate control over behavior, which tend to undermine efforts in situations that tax capabilities. Perceived self-regulatory efficacy can be increased by using sources of self-efficacy information: performance attainments, vicarious experiences, and verbal persuasion.
This study was conducted to investigate whether a self-regulatory efficacy program based on the self-efficacy theory of Bandura (1977) would increase perceived self-regulatory efficacy and decrease the amount of smoking in adolescents. For this purpose, a nonequivalent control group pre-posttest design was used.
The 24 participating subjects in the study were technical high school students. They were smoking 5-20 cigarettes everyday and agreed to participate in the study without any absences during the program. Twelve subjects in the experimental group received a self-regulatory efficacy promoting program. A regular smoking cessation program was given to the 12 participants in the control group.
The self-regulatory efficacy promoting program consisted of small group discussions, video viewing for five periods in seven days, and a telephone coaching program for a period of four weeks. The small group consisted of 10 participants and one group leader. In the group discussion, self-regulatory strategies were taught and discussed. Video tapes were shown to the participants for vicarious experiences. Telephone coaching was done repeatedly once a week for ten minutes. The control group was referred to a institution for regular smoking cessation education for 2 hours each for 5 times to teach various strategies on smoking cessation using lectures, then follow up treatments were not given.
The self-regulatory efficacy scale, developed by the researcher, was used to measure self-regulatory efficacy. Changes in the amount of smoking was evaluated using urine cotinine. A pre-test was adminstered before the treatment. Second data was collected one week after the education was completed and the third after four weeks of education had been completed.
The data were analyzed by the SPSS/PC+ program with paired t-test and t-test, ANCOVA, and Pearsons correlation to determine the effects of the program
The results are as follows:
1. Four weeks after the education significant differences on the participants perceived self-regulatory efficacy was found between two groups
2. One week after the education the amount of participant smoking was not significantly different in the two groups, but a significant difference was found after four weeks.
There was a significant negative relationship between perceived self-regulatory efficacy before the education and the amount of smoking after four weeks.
In conclusion it was found that the self-regulatory efficacy promoting program was an effective nursing intervention for increasing self-regulatory efficacy and reducing the amount of smoking. Therefore, all smoking cessation programs for adolescents should always consider the concept of self-regulatory efficacy. This program is expected to be used not only in the professional smoking cessation education institution, but in general high school settings as well.
Key words: Perceived Self-Regulatory Efficacy, Self-efficacy, Source of Self-Efficacy Information, Adolescent Smoking, Urine Cotinine, Self-Regulatory Efficacy Promoting Program