Abstract
Purpose of study : The purpose of this study was to evaluate a smoking cessation appeal to smokers by student nurses.
Methods : This study was conducted in 1994 and 1995. There were 674 samples from first to third year female student nurses and 156 smokers who had been contacted by the student nurses. Separate self-administered multiple choice questionnaires for student nurses were used as a pretest (1-2 weeks before a 80-minute lesson for the student nurses) and a follow-up test (6 months after the lesson) . Additionally, the student nurses had interviews with a smoker and a questionnaire was filled out by the smoker (just before the appeal and 1 month after the appeal) .
The program consists of the lesson for student nurses, and a consequent appeal to a smoker by each student nurse.
Results and Discussion : One hundred and fifty-six (23.1% of) student nurses were able to appeal for the smoking cessation. Among occasional student nurse smokers at the pretest who smoked 1-29 cigarettes per week, 42.9% of the successful student nurses who could appeal and 20.0% of the unsuccessful student nurses became non-smokers by the time of the follow-up test. But the difference was not statistically significant. One third of heavy smokers, who smoked 20 or more cigarettes per day, became occasional smokers, who smoked 1-19 cigarettes per day, after the smoking cessation appeal by the student nurses. The self-help smoking cessation material which was used in the appeal was generally accepted by the smokers.
