Ildiko Tombor, Dr Lion Shahab, Dr Jamie Brown & Professor Robert West
Presenter(s)
Ildiko Tombor PhD Student, University College London
Abstract
Background: It has been proposed that positive smoker identity may be an important factor undermining smoking cessation but very little research exists on this. This study tested the hypothesis that a simple measure of positive smoker identity would predict quit attempts over and above other known predictors in a population sample. More tentatively it explored whether this measure would also predict quit success.
Methods: A representative sample of adult smokers in England (n=9,456) was included at baseline and 2,099 were followed-up at six months as part of the Smoking Toolkit Study. Demographic and smoking characteristics, a single item measure of positive smoker identity, measures of smoking-related attitudes, quit attempts and quit success were assessed.
Results: A total of 18.3% of smokers reported a positive smoker identity. Adjusting for all other predictors, those with a positive smoker identity were more likely to be older, male, more dependent, have lower motivation to stop, have not made a quit attempt in the past year, enjoy smoking, consider themselves to be addicted and more confident in stopping smoking. Having a positive smoker identity independently predicted failure to make a quit attempt at six months follow up. The independent association with quit success was similar in magnitude but did not reach statistical significance.
Conclusions: Only a minority of smokers in England have a positive smoker identity. However, where it is present it may be an important barrier to quitting smoking and merits further study.
Source of funding: Ildiko Tombor's PhD is funded by the Society for the Study of Addiction. Lion Shahab is a member of the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies. Jamie Brown's post is funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative. Robert West is funded by Cancer Research UK. We are grateful to Cancer Research UK, the Department of Health and Pfizer for funding this study.
This study is partly funded by Pfizer under an investigator initiated award. At the outset data collection for the Smoking Toolkit Study was also supported by GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson and Johnson. Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, and GlaxoSmithKline are manufacturers of smoking cessation products who had no involvement in the design of the study, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, the writing of the report, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. The research team is part of the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies.
Declaration of interest: The authors state their competing interests as follows: Ildiko Tombor does not have any conflict of interest. Lion Shahab has received honoraria for talk and travel expenses from manufacturers of medications for smoking cessation to attend meetings and workshops. Jamie Brown has received an unrestricted research grant from Pfizer. Robert West has undertaken research and consultancy for companies that develop and manufacture smoking cessation medications. He has a share of a patent for a novel nicotine delivery device.
