Beliefs about smoking cessation among out-of-school youth

Although the majority of adolescents in the 13-18 age range are at school, there is a need to target specific groups of young smokers such as unemployed youth. For those young people who are not at school, few directed programs are available in either prevention or cessation and information is needed about the design and delivery of appropriate programs for this population. This report presents the results from a survey of unemployed youth and students at vocational colleges about various aspects of smoking cessation. The majority of out-of-school youth smokers had not tried to quit, but 52% were contemplating action to quit. Only a quarter of the smokers had quit for more than a week. Few young smokers would use a recognised program though more females would change to a lower nicotine brand, quit with the help of a friend or participate in a group quit program. The method of quitting most would recommend to peers is 'use of will power'. Incentives to quit were attractive to only a third of the smokers, and many enhancing and inhibiting factors for participation in programs were identified. In particular, efforts to quit increased their confidence in quitting, supporting the need to assist those who are contemplating action to quit. Programs need to incorporate input from youth and be tailored for them but not necessarily for different groups such as non-secondary school students and unemployed youth.