The effect of perceived social support on smoking cessation on people WHO APPLY to a smoking cessation center

Introduction and Aim: Smoking is the main cause of preventable diseases and deaths. Smoking cessation is an important behavioral change for the individuals and those around them. Although some smokers try to quit smoking, most of them fail. Evaluating the factors that affect the process of smoking cessation is important for planning successful smoking cessation interventions. The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of perceived social support on people aged between 30 – 59 who applied to Balçova Municipality Smoking Cessation Center between January 2011 – December 2014 in the city of Izmir. Method: The type of the study is case – control. The study population consists of 761 people aged between 30-59, of whom applied to Balçova Municipality Smoking Cessation Center between January 2011 December 2014. To determine the effect of perceived social support on smoking cessation at the moderate (0.5) effect size, 95% power, 95% confidence level; the control / case rate was taken as 1 and minimum sample size was calculated as 105 persons who quit smoking (case) and 105 persons who did not quit smoking (control) at the end of the 12 month follow-up after the application. All 185 individuals in the case group who quit smoking were aimed to reach and no sample was selected. Of 554 persons who could not quit smoking, 185 individuals were selected to the control group by simple random sampling. The dependent variable is smoking cessation status. The main independent variable is perceived social support status and it was evaluated with "Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support". Self-efficacy level, variables associated with socia-demographic status, cigarette and alcohol consumption and health status are the other independent variables of the study. Self efficacy level is evaluated with "General Self-Efficacy Scale". Descriptive results were presented by numbers, percentage and mean or median values. The associations between dependent variable and independent variables are analyzed with chi-square, t test and logistic regression. p <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In the study, 85 (45.9%) of the 185 persons in the case group and 82 (44.3%) of the 185 persons in the control group accepted to participate the survey. Perceived social support level was found significantly higher in those who quit smoking than those did not. But the effect of social support on smoking cessation was lost in multivariate analysis. The effect of self-efficacy on smoking cessation continued in multivariate analysis. For each point gained in self-efficacy scale, the smoking cessation increased by %6. The rate of smoking cessation was 2.4 times higher in those who did not consume alcohol, and 2.2 times higher in those who did not have a chronic disease. Conclusion: There was no significant difference in the levels of perceived social support in those who quit smoking and who did not. Smoking cessation was higher in inviduals with higher self-efficacy levels, who did not consume alcohol and who did not have a chronic disease. Providing psychologist support for the smoking cessation process, consulting the family members of the applicants and improving the self-efficacy of the individuals by organized meetings may help to improve the efficiency of smoking cessation interventions. Key Words: Social support, smoking cessation, self-efficacy