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Self-efficacy and motivation to quit during participation in a smoking cessation program

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Abstract

The associations between failure to quit and posttreatment self-efficacy and motivation were examined among 600 African American smokers enrolled in a randomized trial testing the efficacy of bupropion for smoking cessation. Participants also received brief motivational counseling and were followed for 6 months. Baseline levels of self-efficacy and motivation for all participants were high (8.2 and 8.5 on a 10-point scale, respectively). Longitudinal analyses indicated that smokers who failed to quit were less likely than quitters to report high self-efficacy and motivation from posttreatment to follow-up. However, examination of mean self-efficacy and motivation scores at posttreatment and follow-up revealed that smokers continued to sustain high self-efficacy and motivation. Mean self-efficacy and motivation scores differed by less than 1 point from baseline levels, even though the majority of participants failed to quit smoking. Results suggest that unsuccessful participation in a smoking cessation program does not meaningfully reduce smokers’ self-efficacy and motivation to quit.

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Correspondence to Delwyn Catley.

Additional information

This study was supported by research grant ROI CA77856 from the National Cancer Institute to Dr. Ahluwalia. Dr. Mayo was supported in part by research grant R24 CA95835 from the National Cancer Institute. Glaxo-Wellcome, Inc. provided study medication. This work is based on a study submitted by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree at the University of Kansas. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine annual meeting, March 2002, Washington, DC.

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Boardman, T., Catley, D., Mayo, M.S. et al. Self-efficacy and motivation to quit during participation in a smoking cessation program. Int. J. Behav. Med. 12, 266–272 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm1204_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm1204_7

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