OBJECTIVES:

The present research is aimed to investigate relationship between disengagement beliefs, perceived risks and benefits of quitting, motivation to quit smoking and smoking self-efficacy among adult smokers.

METHODS:

Employing the technique of purposive convenience sampling, data was collected from adult smokers from area of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The age of participants ranged between 18 years to 35 years. Smoking Self-Efficacy Questionnaire was used to measure self-efficacy, Disengagement Beliefs Questionnaire was used to assess disengagement beliefs, Perceived Risks and Benefits Questionnaire was used to measure perceived risks and benefits of quitting and Motivation and Confidence to quit smoking questionnaire was used to measure motivation and confidence to quit among adult smokers.

RESULTS:

Smoking Self Efficacy external and Smoking Self Efficacy internal were 0.89 and 0.86 respectively. Cronbach's alpha of Disengagement Beliefs Questionnaire was 0.86, whereas reliability of Perceived risks and benefits sub-scales were 0.90 and 0.91 respectively. The reliability of Motivation and Confidence to quit smoking scale ranged from 0.75 to 0.82. Results indicated that smoking self-efficacy and perceived benefits were positively related, whereas perceived risks of quitting and disengagement beliefs were negatively related with motivation to quit smoking. Simple linear regression indicated that smoking self-efficacy and disengagement beliefs were predictors of Motivation and confidence to quit smoking. The overall model accounted for 32% and 14% variance for motivation and confidence respectively. Results of mediation analysis indicated that smoking self-efficacy mediates the relationship between disengagement beliefs and motivation to quit smoking among adult smokers. Additional finding indicated significant differences, where married smokers scored higher on study variables. Similarly significant differences were found in relation to smoking status of parents.

CONCLUSIONS:

It has been found that smokers whose parents smoked had low self-efficacy, motivation and higher disengagement to quit smoking. These findings can help in designing better management plans for individuals having nicotine dependence.