Ethnicity predicts perceptions of smoking and smoking cessation among veterans

The objective of this study was to determine if race/ethnicity predicts motivation to quit smoking and preferences for cessation services among smokers serviced by a primarily psychiatric Veterans Affairs hospital. A self-administered survey was given to a convenience sample of smokers (n=146) at the Battle Creek Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were calculated to determine the association between race/ethnicity and motivation to quit smoking. Forty-two per cent of the sample was non-white. Non-white patients smoked significantly less cigarettes per day as compared with white patients (P=0.002). In the multivariate analyses, compared with whites, non-whites had 3.5 times greater odds of thinking that quitting smoking was extremely/very important to health (P= 0.01), 4.0 times greater odds of thinking of quitting using tobacco products in the next 30 days (P=0.004) and 3.4 times greater odds of being interested in receiving smoking cessation services (P=0.007). Yet, non-white patients were less likely to be interested in intensive nurse counselling and cessation medications. As the number of non-whites continues to increase in the military, novel strategies may be needed to capitalize on the high motivation to quit smoking and preference for non-traditional interventions among non-white smokers treated in Veterans Affairs hospitals.