Background:
The tobacco control community assumes that the most effective interventions are personalised. Nevertheless, little attention is paid to understand differences between pregnant and non-pregnant European women in terms of the social factors that influence tobacco use and the processes of change used to quit smoking.
Methods:
The study consecutively enrolled 177 pregnant women who acknowledged smoking the year before pregnancy and 177 non-pregnant women who acknowledged smoking the year before their clinic visit for a Pap test.
Results:
Concerning socio-demographic factors, the stages of change in pregnant women were associated with level of education, marital status, and the presence of roommates, partners and friends who smoke. In contrast, in non-pregnant women, the stages of change were only associated with living with smokers at home. There was no statistically significant difference in the processes used to stop smoking among the stages of change. Furthermore, the comparison of the scores of pregnant and non-pregnant women by stages reveals that the difference in the experiential processes was statistically significant in the pre-contemplative group; behavioural processes were higher in the non-pregnant women than the pregnant women, and the difference was statically significant in the advanced stages.
Conclusion:
Pregnant and non-pregnant women are different populations in terms of the social contextual factors that influence tobacco use and the processes of change involved in smoking cessation. The intervention programs to stop smoking and to prevent relapse have to take into account these differences.