Women rate empathetic support, i.e., encouragement and listening as more helpful than instrumental support, i.e., suggesting alternatives to smoking.1
Higher quit rates were observed among women in a smoking cessation program that emphasized social support than among those in self-management control groups.
Compared to men, women were less likely to quit if they lived with smokers and were more like to relapse at 24 months.
Women are more likely than men to use formal cessation programs and groups that provide some type of assistance, such as from mental health professionals.
Providing cessation messages may not be as important as providing encouragement and understanding.
It may be important to look at whether social support is available. For example, African-American women in public housing developments report such barriers to smoking cessation as the lack of social support, a cultural norm for smoking, and isolation.
1 Fisher EB, Auslander WF, Sussman LJ, et al. Community organization and social support among African-American women. Paper presented at Workshop on Recruitment and Retention of Women in Clinical Studies, St. Louis, Missouri. 1993. |
