TY - JOUR
T1 - Smoking patterns and readiness to quit
T2 - A study of the Australian Arabic community
AU - Girgis, Seham
AU - Adily, Armita
AU - Velasco, Maria Jose
AU - Garden, Frances L.
AU - Zwar, Nicholas A.
AU - Jalaludin, Bin B.
AU - Ward, Jeanette E.
N1 - The journal is open access, readership of the publicly available online
PY - 2009/3/1
Y1 - 2009/3/1
N2 - Background: Smoking cessation interventions have typically focused on majority populations who, in Australia, are English speaking. There has been an overall decline in the prevalence of smoking in the Australian community. However, there remains a relative paucity of useful information about tobacco use and the effectiveness of tobacco interventions among specific ethnic minorities. Objective To determine associations of tobacco use and tobacco control indicators for Arabic speakers seen in the Australian general practice setting. Methods: A cross sectional study in a consecutive sample of Arabic patients (n=1371) attending the practices of 29 Arabic speaking general practitioners in Sydney, New South Wales. Results: Twenty-nine (53.7%) of 54 eligible Arabic speaking GPs in southwest Sydney participated in this study. Of 1371 patients seen, 29.7% were smokers. Smokers were more likely to report poorer health (χ2=21.7, df=1, p<0.001); 35.7% reported high nicotine dependence. Dependence was more in men (χ2=11.7, df=1, p<001) and those who reported poorer health (χ2=4.9, df=1, p<0.03); 35.9% had attempted to quit in the previous year; 17% were in preparation stage of change; 42.7% recalled quit advice. Poorer self reported health status (AOR=2.13, 95% CI: 1.14-3.97, p=0.017) and unemployment (AOR=1.69, 95% CI: 1.51-4.90, p=0.033) were independent predictors of advice from a health professional, most often a GP (71%). Conclusion: Our study confirms previous reports that the proportion of self reported current smokers among the Arabic community is higher than for the Anglo-European majority. There is a need for ethno specific campaigns in tobacco control.
AB - Background: Smoking cessation interventions have typically focused on majority populations who, in Australia, are English speaking. There has been an overall decline in the prevalence of smoking in the Australian community. However, there remains a relative paucity of useful information about tobacco use and the effectiveness of tobacco interventions among specific ethnic minorities. Objective To determine associations of tobacco use and tobacco control indicators for Arabic speakers seen in the Australian general practice setting. Methods: A cross sectional study in a consecutive sample of Arabic patients (n=1371) attending the practices of 29 Arabic speaking general practitioners in Sydney, New South Wales. Results: Twenty-nine (53.7%) of 54 eligible Arabic speaking GPs in southwest Sydney participated in this study. Of 1371 patients seen, 29.7% were smokers. Smokers were more likely to report poorer health (χ2=21.7, df=1, p<0.001); 35.7% reported high nicotine dependence. Dependence was more in men (χ2=11.7, df=1, p<001) and those who reported poorer health (χ2=4.9, df=1, p<0.03); 35.9% had attempted to quit in the previous year; 17% were in preparation stage of change; 42.7% recalled quit advice. Poorer self reported health status (AOR=2.13, 95% CI: 1.14-3.97, p=0.017) and unemployment (AOR=1.69, 95% CI: 1.51-4.90, p=0.033) were independent predictors of advice from a health professional, most often a GP (71%). Conclusion: Our study confirms previous reports that the proportion of self reported current smokers among the Arabic community is higher than for the Anglo-European majority. There is a need for ethno specific campaigns in tobacco control.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67649233227&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
C2 - 19283257
AN - SCOPUS:67649233227
SN - 2208-7958
VL - 38
SP - 154
EP - 161
JO - Australian Family Physician
JF - Australian Family Physician
IS - 3
ER -
