The effects of efforts at smoking cessation on persons' well-being

This study examined the effects of efforts at smoking cessation on persons' well-being, considering the context of persons' daily hassles, perceived barriers to smoking cessation, and self-efficacy for smoking cessation. Based on a stress-coping framework it is proposed that persons' daily hassles and smoking cessation self-efficacy would directly affect their well-being during smoking cessation, and that persons' perceived barriers to smoking cessation would interact with their hassles to affect well-being. A descriptive, exploratory study using a multivariate cross-sectional design with a stratified community based sample examined the effects of smoking cessation on persons' well-being. Seventy-four smokers, 74 non-smokers, and 92 persons who were quitting smoking completed a written questionnaire. Multivariate data analysis techniques were used to address the six research questions of this study.;It was found that persons who defined themselves as being in the process of quitting smoking had lower levels of general well-being, and higher levels of physical symptoms and psychological symptoms than did persons who smoked or were non-smokers. This effect was found even controlling for the effects of persons' daily hassles and their socio-economic status. Smoking cessation self-efficacy was significantly higher in quitters than in smokers, but did not affect either groups' well-being. Perceived barriers to smoking cessation were related to quitters' daily hassles, and had a significant effect on their well-being scores. In contrast, smokers' perceived barriers and daily hassles were unrelated, and it was smokers' daily hassles that significantly affected their well-being scores.;Understanding that persons who are in the process of quitting smoking have lower levels of well-being may help nurses to better assess the readiness of clients to stop smoking, and to promote the ability of clients to anticipate the process of quitting.