WHAT WOULD SMOKING CESSATION DO?

What Would Smoking Cessation Do?

Gairus John C. Boteja
821501574
Francisca Burg-Feret
October 29, 2014
NRS. 2177 - Young Families Health
University of New Brunswick Humber College

I declare that this is my original work and the sources used are acknowledged.
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WHAT WOULD SMOKING CESSATION DO?

Smoking Cessation
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and illness and it is linked to various
kinds of diseases including respiratory disease, cardiovascular diseases, chronic diseases, and
cancers (Registered Nurses Association of Ontario [RNAO], 2003). Second-hand smoking (SHS)
has detrimental effects to the family and that includes developing childhood asthma, respiratory
illnesses of other family members, and negative effects on pregnant women (Jones and McEwen,
2012). However, despite of all the negative and long-term effects of smoking, there are still quite
a few numbers of people who continue to smoke and make other people exposed to SHS
especially at home. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of smoking cessation
for family members who smoke at home, how will smoking cessation impact health of young
families that are vulnerable to SHS exposure, social determinants that plays a role in smoking
cessation, and what nursing strategies that can be used to promote smoking cessation.
Discussion: Impacts of Smoking Cessation in the Family
Smoking is not allowed in many public places; however, there are still many people
exposed to SHS and are susceptible in acquiring respiratory problems, most especially children
who live with parents who smoke, and also other family members such as the elderly, family
members with preexisting respiratory conditions, and pregnant women (Reese, Keske, Blaine,
Aronstein, Gandelman, Lora, Savage, Geller, 2014). Exposure to SHS increases risk of
developing childhood asthma, and other chronic respiratory diseases associated to smoking.
Infants are more likely at risk for the effects of SHS exposure because their bodies are still
developing and their breathing pattern is at a quicker rate than adults (Jones and McEwen). In
addition, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is also known to have link to SHS exposure of
the infants and SIDS will give a devastating and emotional distress to the family. Also, smoking

WHAT WOULD SMOKING CESSATION DO?

and exposure to SHS during pregnancy has dangerous effects to the developing infant. It is
connected to preterm delivery, low birth weight, and has significant effect on cognitive
development such as trouble with learning (Butz, Halterman, Bellin, Tsoukleris, Donithan, Kub,
Thompson, Land, Walker, 2011). However, prevention of SHS exposure through smoking
cessation will reverse the detrimental effects of SHS and one way of preventing is by reducing
the SHS exposure at home, car, and places where other family members who do not smoke are
present. Smoking cessation will affect families in several ways. First, it will decrease rates of
health issues (especially in children and older adults) and other series of complications (in
pregnant women and sick family members) that will bring stress to the family. Smoking
cessation will also influence childrens perception about smoking because they will less likely be
involved in tobacco use when they reach adolescent years and will prefer to stay in a smoke-free
environment when they start living on their own (Jones and McEwen, 2012).
Social Determinants
Education and literacy is one of the social determinants that affect smoking cessation. An
individuals level of education and literacy influences his or her perception and understanding
about the importance, benefits and impact of smoking cessation to his or her own family. People
justify themselves by drawing on some conclusions that diseases such as lung cancer is not all
the time linked to smoking, but rather to fate, unhealthy lifestyle, and genetics and for that
reason, they are not considering to reduce or cut-down smoking (Robinson, Bottorff, Smith,
Sullivan, 2010). As what Robinson et al. (2010) had indicated that there are still vast number of
people who lacks understanding about the detrimental effects and the dangers of smoking.
Because of that, they still continue to smoke especially in places where other people are more
likely to be exposed to SHS like their own homes and even within their cars. Another social

WHAT WOULD SMOKING CESSATION DO?

determinant that affects smoking cessation is individual health practices and coping skills. Every
person has its own way to deal with the stress and daily pressure they are facing every day that
significantly affects their daily health practices. Rees et al. (2014) indicates that children from
families with low-income that have caregivers that use tobacco aside from alcohol as their
comfort measure are at high-risk for SHS exposure. Butz et al. (2011) also states that most
parents or caregivers do their smoking regimen within a close proximity to the child usually in
the living room. This apparently causes the child to be more exposed in SHS and become
vulnerable to certain respiratory disorders not only to the child, but also to other family members
who are susceptible.
Nursing Strategies
Nurses play an important role in promoting smoking cessation in the family. There are
nursing strategies that are useful in promoting smoking cessation in order to reduce and
eventually cut down SHS exposure in the family. First is by educating the person who smokes in
the family about the harm, health risks, and associated diseases that will be acquired through
SHS by giving them reliable and evidenced-based information and resources that he or she can
use and rely on such as access to support groups and health team, and educating them about the
positive impact and importance of smoking cessation so that the he or she will have an informedchoice (Jones and McEwen, 2012). A nurse should emphasize the importance of protecting the
health family from hazards that smoking will bring. Also, by educating the whole family about
the risks associated with SHS and the benefits of the smoking cessation so that they can act as a
support and an encouragement to family members who smoke to reduce smoking. Another
strategy is by making the families involved in the plan of care by working in collaboration with
the nurse in planning and decision-making about how and when to implement smoking cessation.

WHAT WOULD SMOKING CESSATION DO?

Robinson et al. (2010) indicated that every individual have his or her own choice, right reason,
and good timing on quitting smoking. Therefore, a nurse should recognize individuals strength,
weaknesses, and willingness to reduce or cut-down smoking and collaborate this to the family
members so that they would help this individual to progressively workout on achieving the goal
of reducing SHS exposure to the family. A family can help by establishing a smoke-free
environment and setting up smoke-free rules in their houses and cars and becoming a constant
reminder about the importance of smoking reduction.
In summary, smoking cessation has a huge impact on the health of the family; first it will
reduce SHS exposure to the vulnerable members of the family such as children, pregnant
women, elderly, and family members in a poor health condition, smoking cessation will also
reduce rates of health issues such as respiratory disorders in the family, and smoking cessation
will create a healthy environment that the children will adapt when they grow up. The level of
education and understanding about the SHS of an individual in the family also affects
effectiveness of smoking cessation, and also it is affected by the daily health practices and
whether the individual uses smoking as a coping skill and how does this individual perform his
or her smoking regimen. Nursing strategies such as educating the family about the risk of SHS
and importance of smoking cessation by giving them informed-choice and another nursing
strategy by involving the family in the plan of care so that common goal is achieve.

WHAT WOULD SMOKING CESSATION DO?

References
Butz, A., Halterman, J., Bellin, M., Tsoukleris, M., Donithan, M., Kub, J., & Bollinger, M.
(2011). Factors associated with second-hand smoke exposure in young inner-city children
with asthma. Journal of asthma, 48, 449-457. doi: 10.3109/02770903.2011.576742
Jones, L., & McEwen, A. (2012). Reducing secondhand smoke exposure at home. British journal
of school of nursing, 7(8), 389-393.
Reese, V., Keske, R., Blaine, K., Aronstein, D., Gandelman, E., Lora, V., ... Geller, A. (2014).
Factors influencing adoption of and adherence to indoor smoking bans among health
disparity communities. American journal of public health, 104(10), 1928-1934. doi:
10.2105/AJPH.2013.301735
Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (2003). Integrating smoking cessation into daily
nursing practice. Retrieved from: http://rnao.ca/sites/rnaoca/files/Integrating_Smoking_Cessation_into_Daily_Nursing_Practice.pdf
Robinson, C., Bottorff, J., Smith, M., & Sullivan, K. (2010). "Just because you've got lung
cancer doesn't mean I will": Lung cancer, smoking, and family dynamics. Journal of family
nursing, 16(3), 282-301. doi: 10.1177/1074840710370747