Helping hospitalized smokers in Hong Kong quit smoking by understanding their risk perception, behaviour, and attitudes related to smoking

Aim: To understand the risk perceptions, behaviour, attitudes, and experiences related to smoking among hospitalized Chinese smokers. Background: Understanding hospitalized smokers’ perceptions of risks associated with smoking, along with their behaviour, attitudes, and smoking-related experiences, is essential prerequisite to design effective interventions to help them quit smoking. Design: A phenomenological research design was adopted. Methods: A purposive sampling approach was used. Between May 2016-January 2017, 30 hospitalized smokers were invited for an interview. Results: Four themes were generated: (a) associations between perception of illness and smoking; (b) perceived support from healthcare professionals to quit smoking; (c) impact of hospitalization on behaviour, attitudes, and experiences; and (d) perceived barriers to quitting smoking. Conclusion: Development of an innovative intervention that helps to demystify misconceptions about smoking through brief interventions and active referrals is recommended to enhance the effectiveness of healthcare professionals promoting smoking cessation for hospitalized smokers. Impact: To date, no study examining smoking behaviour among hospitalized patients in Hong Kong has been conducted. Misconceptions about smoking and health, barriers to quitting that outweighed perceived benefits, lack of support from healthcare professionals, and difficulty overcoming withdrawal symptoms or cigarette cravings precluded hospitalized smokers sustaining smoking abstinence after discharge. Smoking is detrimental to physical health. Smoking cessation has beneficial effects on treatment efficacy and prognosis and helps to reduce the economic burden on society from smoking-attributable diseases.