Factors Affecting Level of Intention to Quit Smoking among Police Officers in the Central Region, Thailand

Abstract

The purposes of this cross-sectional study were to assess the levels of intention to quit smoking and the key factors affecting it among smoking police officers under Provincial Police Region 1. There were 390 study samples recruited through a two-stage cluster sampling technique. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression analysis were used to identify factors relating to levels of intention to quit smoking. The results revealed that 40% of smoking police officers were aged below 40, about two-thirds smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day, 10.5% had high level of nicotine dependence, 82.8% drank alcohol; and only 17.7% had high intention to quit smoking in the future. The significant factors which resulted in materially higher intention of quitting cigarettes were as follows: personal factors that includes low-nicotine independency (OR=2.10, 95%CI=1.08-4.07) and non-alcohol drinker (OR=1.75, 95%CI=1.03-2.97). The Theory of Planned Behavior factor included positive attitude towards quitting (OR=2.31, 95%CI=1.32-4.04), high subjective norm (OR=3.59, 95%CI=1.65-7.82), and perceiving more behavioral control over quitting (OR=2.47, 95% CI:=1.34-4.56). Tobacco control programs and policies should consider and integrate positive attitude towards quitting, high subjective norm and perceiving more behavioral control over quitting in the design of interventions to boost the intention level to quit smoking among police officers.