Effectiveness of fear arousal message in smoking cessation program among cardiovascular disease patients

Abstract

As literatures show the importance of video integrated Protection Motivation Theory in improving smoking cessation, but there were limited study focusing on the video intervention in cessation program in Malaysia. Thus, this research sought to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of fear arousal message in smoking cessation program among cardiovascular disease patients by using a real-life patient testimonial. A total of 65 adult smokers (31 in the control group and 34 in the intervention group) from a cardiac unit in a non-profit government hospital in Malaysia completed the cessation program. A testimonial video was specially developed by the researcher for this intervention study. Elements of fear arousal message and self-efficacy were integrated into the video. A set of questionnaire consisted of socio-demographic status, smoking history, Patient’s stages of behavioural changes based on the Transtheoretical Model Questionnaire, and Patient’s Motivation to Quit Smoking Questionnaire were used in the study. The primary measure in the study was the smoking status of the participants at a 3-month follow-up. The intervention group shows a significant improvement of motivation level from only 6.5% of the participants in the group were very strongly motivated at baseline to 54.8% at follow-up, with p=0.001. Overall, the total numbers of final quit rates in the intervention group were higher, where 41.9% of the participants in the group have quitted smoking at the twelve-week follow-up as compared to only 20.6% quit rate in the control group at the final follow-up. The smokers were tested with the piCo smokerlyzer for their breath carbon monoxide level and quitters were further biochemically verified using cotinine amylase test at the final follow-up. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the intervention at least in the short-term study. Thus it is hoped that this new smoking cessation program will be a great benefit for future tobacco control program in our country. In addition, this new intervention can be integrated into the government policy and nursing practice to improve the cessation outcome especially for cardiac smokers in Malaysia.