Up to 30 percent of pregnant smokers spontaneously quit smoking during pregnancy. Unfortunately, the effects of cessation are short-lived with relapse rates reaching up to 70 percent within three to six months following delivery. In spite of established behavioral interventions and pharmacotherapies discovered in the past ten years, the prevalence of smoking in pregnant women, as well as relapse in the postpartum period, remains very high. Gaps in our knowledge exist about the efficacy of coping strategies used by pregnant women to successfully quit smoking. This exploratory study will assess the smoking cessation strategies used by low-income women attending publicly funded prenatal clinics who spontaneously quit smoking during pregnancy and after delivery using quantitative and qualitative methods.
The specific aims are to: (1) Describe the coping strategies that low-income spontaneous quitters use during pregnancy and the early postpartum period, (2) Compare the self-efficacy to quit smoking of low-income spontaneous quitters with that of low-income pregnant smokers, and (3) Clarify the relationship between coping strategies and self-efficacy among low-income spontaneous quitters during pregnancy and the early postpartum period. Two county health prenatal clinics will be used to recruit 30 participants for the sample of spontaneous quitters and 150 women will be recruited for the sample of continuous smokers. Data collection for the sample of spontaneous quitters will include face-to-face interviews with participants and questionnaire data collected twice during the pregnancy and once at six-weeks postpartum. For participants who continue to smoke during pregnancy, data collection will be done once and include written questionnaire information. Data analysis methods will include descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment correlations, mixed linear modeling and qualitative content analysis. Triangulation of the qualitative and quantitative data will enhance the validity of the findings. This study will address a critical gap in our knowledge of the primary strategies used by women to remain abstinent from cigarettes. New insights on the key factors associated with successful abstinence will be used to enhance this window of opportunity that pregnancy provides for women smokers.
