| The primary purpose of this research was to examine the level of smoking dependence in a sample of 61 South Asian participants in Hong Kong. Another aim was to better understand reasons for tobacco use and determine the levels of interest in quitting tobacco within the South Asians community in Hong Kong. South Asian individuals who indicated they were regular users of tobacco completed a brief smoking measure, the Cigarette Dependence Scale (CDS-5) and participated in face-to-face interviews regarding their smoking habits. Findings from the CDS-5 questionnaire showed levels of cigarette dependence in this sample to be moderate. A majority of the participants smoked between 11 and 20 cigarettes per day and smoked their first cigarette within 5 minutes upon waking. Most reported that quitting smoking was, "fairly difficult," or, "very difficult," and reported an urge to smoke after a period of not smoking. Educational level was significantly negatively correlated with the CDS-5 scores indicating that higher levels of education were associated with less dependence on cigarettes. The three most common reasons participants gave for smoking were, "relaxation," "pleasure, and, "habit." An important theme that emerged from the interviews was that participants associated their smoking to changes in lifestyle accompanying immigrating to Hong Kong, which had a profound impact on their health behaviors. In conclusion, South Asians were motivated to quit smoking cigarettes and were aware of the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes, but they appeared to lack the support and resources from the community to do so. They also lacked awareness about nicotine addiction. Future research is needed to identify the ways in which South Asians are successful in quitting tobacco to further understand the challenges that the South Asians population might be facing. |
