PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify subjectivity on smoking cessation of Korean adult males, and to provide basic data, for non-smoking policies. METHODS: Q-methodology, a method of analyzing subjectivity of each item, was used. Thirty-nine adult males, classified 36 selected Q-statements into normal distribution, using a 9-point scale. Collected data were analyzed, using the pc-QUNAL program. RESULTS: Among the Korean adult males, three types of smoking cessation were identified. The name for Type I was ‘pursuit of faith’, for Type II, ‘factor of relationship disturbance’ and for Type III ‘ambivalence’. CONCLUSION: Results of this study indicate that different approaches to intervention on smoking cessation are best served for Korean adult males, based on the three types of smoking cessation, and their characteristics.
Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Methods ; Q-Sort ; Smoke ; Smoking Cessation ; Smoking

No abstract available.
Smoking Cessation/*methods ; Research Design ; Humans ; *Acupuncture, Ear

OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this study were to assess the smoking status, knowledge and attitude related to smoking and smoking cessation activity of the physicians in a community, and to identify their predictors of smoking cessation activity. METHOD: All physicians employed by various health facilities in a community were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. Of the physicians surveyed, 523 (69.6%) returned completed questionnaires. RESULTS: The smoking rate of physicians was 29.3% (34.2% in males, 3.6% in females) and the knowledge and attitude scores to smoking were 22.5+/-2.4 and 65.4+/-6.9, respectively. The self-efficacy score was 3.4+/-1.0 and the smoking cessation activity score was 65.4+/-6.9. The smoking cessation activity was statistically significant with working place, specialty, knowledge and attitude to smoking and self-efficacy. In stepwise multiple regression, smoking cessation activity was predicted by doctors' working place, specialty, attitudes related to smoking issues, and self-efficacy of counseling knowledge and skills. CONCLUSION: Physicians need to participate routinely and actively in smoking cessation activity. For doctors to effectively counsel and intervene in patients regarding smoking cessation, it is essential to integrate education on smoking cessation intervention into curricula in formal education and to offer continuing education including smoking cessation intervention.
Counseling ; Curriculum ; Education ; Education, Continuing ; Health Facilities ; Humans ; Male ; Methods ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The smoking rates and patterns in the North Korean population are not well known. More than 20,000 North Korean defectors have settled in South Korea; thus, we can estimate the current North Korean smoking situation using this group. METHODS: All North Korean defectors spend their first 3 months in a South Korean facility learning to adapt to their new home. We retrospectively analyzed the results from a questionnaire conducted among North Korean male defectors in this facility from August 2012 to February 2014. RESULTS: Of 272 men, 84.2% were current smokers, 12.5% were ex-smokers, and 3.3% were non-smokers. The mean age of this group was 35.9 ± 11.3 years, and smoking initiation occurred at a mean age of 18.2 ± 4.7 years. Among the subjects, 78.1% had a family member who smoked. Of the 221 current smokers, 67.4% responded that they intended to quit smoking. Fagerström test and Kano test for social nicotine dependence (KTSND) results for current smokers were 3.35 ± 2.26 and 13.76 ± 4.87, respectively. Question 9 on the KTSND (doctors exaggerate the ill effects of smoking) earned a significantly higher score relative to the other questions and a significantly higher score in current smokers compared with non-smokers. CONCLUSIONS: The smoking rate in North Korean male defectors was higher than that indicated previously. However, interest in smoking cessation was high and nicotine dependence was less severe than expected. Further investigation is needed to identify an efficient method for North Korean smokers to stop smoking.
Humans ; Korea ; Learning ; Male* ; Methods ; Nicotine* ; Retrospective Studies ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation ; Smoking* ; Tobacco Use Disorder*

The use of alternative medicine for smoking cessation have been increasing steadily in recent years. A series of clinical group studies was performed to clarify the effect, outcome and success rate of an acupuncture treatment for smoking cessation. This study was conducted for four weeks using 238 smoking students at 2 high schools. The subjects were separated into two groups: 159 students were treated with acupuncture on the anti-smoking acupoints of the ear, which is known to be effective for cessation of smoking (case group), and 79 students were treated at other sites of the ear (control group). The acupuncture treatment was alternately administered at each side of the ears on a weekly basis for 4 weeks. The smoking cessation success was only 1 case (0.6%) in the case group and none in the control group after 4 weeks. The change in the taste of tobacco and the intensity of the desire to smoke were not significantly different between the case and control groups, but the case group showed a tendency of reduction in the taste of tobacco and the intensity of the desire to smoke. In addition, the reduction in cigarette consumption was not significant, but the tendency of reduction in the study group was significant. It is believed that the site of auricular acupuncture for smoking cessation is not important. However, there was a significant tendency in terms of the reduction in cigarette consumption, the taste of tobacco and the intensity of the desire to smoke in the case group, indicating that auricular acupuncture in smoking cessation has some effect.
*Acupuncture, Ear ; Adolescent ; Humans ; Male ; Smoking Cessation/*methods ; *Students ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate the predictors for 'quitting' among male smokers in a smoking cessation clinic.

METHODSThe target population consisted of smokers who volunteered to seek treatment for cessation at our clinic in Beijing. Smokers received face-to-face counseling and psychological intervention at the first visit by trained physicians and standardized telephone discussion, was carried out with counselors at 1 week, 1/3/6 months a follow-up study. The main outcomes would involve 'successful quitting' at the 7-day point, continuous quit rates at 3 and 6 months as well as the predictors of 'quitting'.

RESULTSFrom October 2008 to December 2012, we collected 355 eligible male smokers among whom 255 had completed the 6-month follow-up program. Results from the analysis (n = 255) showed that the quitting rates at the 7-day point and 3 months were 34.9% and 25.5%, while the rates were 25.1% and 18.3% among the 355 smokers who had the intention for treatment. Data from the stepwise logistic regression model analysis showed that lower exhaled CO level at the first visit, higher perceived confidence in quitting, lower expenditure on cigarettes and had diagnosed tobacco-related chronic diseases by physicians, were important predictors for quitting smoking. The main reasons of failure to quit were addiction of tobacco cigarette, craving for cigarettes to relieve pressure from work, peer influence from other smokers, lack of mental preparation and perseverance to quit, etc.

CONCLUSIONSmokers who smoked less cigarettes, had higher perceived confidence in quitting and had physician-diagnosed tobacco-related chronic diseases seemed easier to quit. Regular follow-up intervention services for smokers should be established to enhance the motivation for quitting so as to create a favorable environment for the smokers.

Adult ; Counseling ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Smoking Cessation ; methods ; statistics & numerical data

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects and clinical prognosis of out-patient department-based smoking cessation services for coronary heart disease (CHD) patients.

METHODSA total of 140 smoking patients diagnosed with coronary heart disease in our cardiovascular department were randomly divided into the intensive smoking cessation clinic follow-up group (intervention group, patients were informed on the importance and methods to quit smoking at the first visit and reminded for that at months interval for 6 months, n = 70) and the conventional treatment group (control group, n = 70). After 6 months, the smoking status, cardiovascular event rates, drug usage, out-patient medical costs and quality of life were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSAge, gender, concomitant diseases, drug usage were similar between the two groups at baseline (all P > 0.05). After 6 months, smoking quit rate [34.2% (24/70) vs. 5.7% (4/70), P < 0.01], drug use rates: lipid-lowering drugs [95.3% (67/70) vs. 80.4% (56/70)], β blockers [82.4% (57/70) vs. 41.3% (28/70)], and ACEI/ARB [61.4% (43/70) vs. 34.4% (24/70)] were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group, while total cardiovascular event rates [21.4% (15/70) vs. 47.1% (33/70), P < 0.01] and out-patient medical costs (3789.3 RMB vs. 4984.2 RMB, P < 0.01) were significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group. The quality of life scores derived from MYO health survey questionnaire was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group (P < 0.01). The top three reasons responsible for continuous smoking for all patients failed to quit smoking were: (1) others smoked more than me and still alive and healthy [90.3% (56/62)]; (2) smoking helped me to keep relaxed and reduce trouble in daily work and life [70.9% (44/62)]; (3) smoking was essential while chatting and drinking with friends [66.1% (41/62)]. The overall satisfactory rate to this smoking cessation program was 42.8% and the satisfactory rate was up to 50.0% by patients.

CONCLUSIONSIntensive outpatient smoking cessation follow-up program can significantly improve the smoking cessation rates, the guideline drug use rate and the quality of life while reduce medical costs for coronary heart disease patients.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Coronary Disease ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Outpatients ; Smoking Cessation ; methods

Hospitals ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Retrospective Studies ; Singapore ; Smoking Cessation ; methods ; statistics & numerical data

OBJECTIVETo discuss how some pre-analysis processes influence the results of semen analysis and how to minimize their influence on the accuracy of laboratory results based on the concept of total quality management (TQM).

METHODSWe conducted semen quality analyses for 21 male volunteers, who had abstained from tobacco and alcohol for over 72 days for the purpose of fertilization, before and after the abstinence, and obtained their seminal parameters at 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 hours after semen sample collection.

RESULTSSperm concentration, sperm motility and the percentage of grade a + b sperm were significantly higher after the abstinence of tobacco and alcohol than before (P < 0.01). With the lengthening of post-ejaculation time, there was a significant decrease in sperm motility and the percentage of grade a + b sperm (P < 0.05), but not in sperm concentration (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONA lot of factors may affect the results of semen analysis, including the subjects' habits of drinking and smoking and the length of time after semen collection. Therefore, every procedure of semen analysis has to be dealt with very carefully so as to meet the requirements of TQM and achieve most reliable results for clinical use.

Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Quality Control ; Semen Analysis ; methods ; standards ; Smoking Cessation ; Sperm Count ; Sperm Motility ; Temperance

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted in order to investigate predictors of smoking cessation in outpatients. METHOD: Subjects were 401 adult smoking patients who saw their doctors in the outpatient setting at a university hospital, regardless of their willingness of otherwise in smoking cessation. Physicians delivered a brief, stop smoking prompt to all patients who smoked one or more cigarettes a day. Then they referred to on-site counselors who provided a brief, nurse assisted intervention with a survey to a randomly assigned intervention group (200 smoking patients), whom the counselors telephoned later to prevent relapse or promote the motivation to quit, or gave only a survey to a control group (201 smoking patients). After at least 5 months, self-reported current smoking cessation was confirmed later using cut-off values of 7 ppm or less in expired alveolar air after breath holding portable CO analyzer. RESULTS: After 5 months, subjects in the intervention group were 1.56 times (95% C.I. 0.89-2.73) more likely to quit smoking than those in the non-intervention group (14.0% vs. 9.0%). Willingness to quit smoking in a month, scheduled admission in a month, self efficacy score and FTND (Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence) score were all significantly related with smoking cessation. In stepwise multiple logistic regression, previous attempts to quit smoking were significant instead of self efficacy score. In the intervention group who had willingness to quit smoking in a month (132 smoking patients), FTND score, whether quit date was today, and whether quit promise paper was submitting were all significantly related with smoking cessation. In stepwise multiple logistic regression, scheduled admission in a month and whether quit date was today were significant predictor variables. Smoking cessation treatment should be tailored to individual smoking patients considering these predictors.
Adult ; Breath Holding ; Counseling ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Methods ; Motivation ; Nicotine ; Outpatients* ; Recurrence ; Self Efficacy ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking* ; Tobacco Products