Effects of an Anti-Smoking Program to Prevent Lung Cancer among Urban Aboriginals in Taiwan

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Indigenous people who leave their hometowns and move to the city to earn a livingbecame urban aboriginals. During the process of adapting to urban living situations, they may use variouscoping strategies such as smoking to overcome their stress. Therefore, it is crucial to provide health educationincluding smoking prevention, increasing knowledge regarding of tobacco hazard, self-efficacy of anti-smoking,and adjusting smoking behavior so as to empower their anti-smoking motivation to prevent lung cancer. Thepurpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of an anti-smoking program on urban aboriginals inTaiwan. <br/><b>Methods</b>: A quasi-experimental study design with purposeful sampling was employed. A total of 125aboriginal subjects were recruited from two local churches at Shu Lin area in northern Taiwan. Subjects weredivided into an experimental group (n =64 ) and a control group (n = 61). Both took pre-tests in order to setbaseline values, and only the experimental group participated for 3-weeks in the anti-smoking program classes.Both groups took post-tests immediately after the intervention in order to evaluate the immediate effects of theteaching program, and a follow-up test was conducted four weeks after the intervention. Data were analyzedusing descriptive statistics, one-way ANCOVA, and repeat measure ANCOVA. <br/><b>Results</b>: After controlling forconfounding variables, the results showed that there were statistically significant differences in the self-efficacyof anti-smoking and smoking behavior between experimental and control groups in the immediately post-testand the follow-up test (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant differences in the recognition of hazardsof smoking at eiter time point. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: The findings of this study revealedthat the anti-smoking program effectively improved self-efficacy of anti-smoking, and decreased the smokingbehavior in urban aboriginals. They provide useful information as a reference regarding of aboriginal healthpromotion to health providers. It is imperative that anti-smoking be reinforced for those regular smokers toprevent induction of lung cancer.