A Study of Knowledge regarding Health Impact of Tobacco and Attitude towards Quitting among Lower-Middle and Lower Classes in a Resettlement Colony in Delhi, India

Suman Bhasker, Vikas Bajpai, Vinay Kumar, Sashi Kant

Abstract


Objectives: To study knowledge regarding health impact of tobacco and attitude towards quitting among lower-middle and lower classes in a resettlement colony in Delhi.

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted between the months of March and October in the year 2011, in a resettlement colony of Delhi. The study was a cross-sectional, community-based, house-to-house survey and involved interviews of present tobacco consumers using a structured interview guide consisting mainly of close-ended questions and some open-ended questions.

Results: 1698 subjects were enrolled in the study with 90.8% males and 8.7% females. Mean age of the subjects was 40 years, while median age was 37 years. 87% of the respondents were educated up to higher secondary or less. Some other key findings included the following:

45% of the respondents had no information on the effect of tobacco consumption on health, and 60% did not have any knowledge of the laws regarding tobacco consumption. Television was the most common source of information regarding tobacco consumption, followed by newspapers. Three-fourths of the respondents had knowledge that their using tobacco had an impact on other family members, and 60% believed that children were affected most commonly.

Spouse or children were the most common people who stressed upon the respondents to leave tobacco, followed by parents. Self-motivation was the most commonly reported second reason for attempting to quit tobacco. However, doctors or other medical personnel appeared to play only a marginal role in motivating the tobacco users to quit tobacco.

Conclusion: This study shows that there is tremendous scope for improving the outcomes in tobacco control by strengthening the programmatic components of tobacco control such as propagating the health effects of tobacco in a manner intelligible to the people and making the health system to proactively contribute in anti-tobacco efforts.


Keywords


Tobacco, survey, knowledge, quitting

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