Caught in the tapestry of tobacco: why I smoke

Debbie Treloar1, Jennie Gunn

  • 1School of Nursing, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.

Contemporary Nurse
|June 26, 2012
PubMed

Faced with the knowledge that smoking is dangerous, women continue to smoke cigarettes, and the number is growing. In contrast, breast cancer is being diagnosed earlier, and women are listening to the call for mammograms and examination screenings. Why then, are women not listening to the call to never start or stop smoking? In nursing today it has become necessary to put forth a greater effort to call attention to the toll of lung cancer and other smoking related diseases. There is significant disparity in smoking groups targeted for research. One particular group has been ignored in past research, the middle-aged woman. Research is needed to understand why women use tobacco products in this group and to find what is needed to discourage smoking. In this article, we explore nursing research in the area of middle-aged women and tobacco use. Interlaced throughout the literature review is the story of a 57 year old female and her experiences with smoking.

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