Open AccessCigarette smoking and interest in quitting among consumers at a Psychiatric Disability Rehabilitation and Support Service in Victoria
Author(s) -
MoellerSaxone Kristen
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 1326-0200
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2008.00283.x
Subject(s) - smoking cessation , quit smoking , medicine , population , rehabilitation , test (biology) , psychiatry , service (business) , environmental health , physical therapy , paleontology , pathology , biology , economy , economics
Objective:Togather information on smoking rates and interest in smoking cessation among consumers at a Psychiatric Disability Rehabilitation and Support Service (PDRSS).Method:Aquestionnaire was offered to all consumers at Neami Victoria by support staff in March 2007. Two hundred and eighty people (81%) completed the survey. Relationships between categorical variables were analysed using Fischer's exact test ( p =0.05).Results:Sixty‐two per cent of consumers were smokers. Twelve per cent had previously quit smoking. PDRS consumers smoked 50% more than the general population and high rates (17%) of illegal tobacco smoking were identified. Fifty‐nine per cent of smokers wanted to quit while 74% wanted to reduce.Conclusions:While smoking rates were almost four times higher than the general population, interest in quitting and cutting down was also high.Implications:Opportunities exist for public health advocates to collaborate with PDRSSs to increase knowledge related to smoking harms, and to reduce smoking in this group.