Smoking cessation strategy use among pregnant ex-smokers

There is strong evidence for the beneficial health effects associated with smoking cessation during pregnancy. Although many pregnant women spontaneously quit smoking during pregnancy, postpartum relapse is high. Evidence suggests that pregnant women do not use smoking cessation strategies as identified by the 40-item Processes of Change Scale as frequently as others who quit smoking. The purpose of this study is to identify factors associated with pregnant exsmokers' use of experiential and behavioral smoking cessation strategies. A cross-sectional survey design is used for the study. From a sample of 201 primarily low-income pregnant women recruited to participate in a larger study, 58 were biologically confirmed ex-smokers. Multiple regression analysis reveals that motivation to quit smoking is the only significant factor explaining the use of experiential and behavioral smoking cessation strategies, accounting for 44% of the variance in experiential processes and 31% of the variance in behavioral processes.