Affiliations: [a]
Wesley Medical Research, Toowong, QLD, Australia
| [b]
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Tamara D. Street, Wesley Medical Research, PO Box 499, Toowong, QLD 4066, Australia. Tel.: +61 7 3721 1706; Fax: +61 7 3721 1590; E-mail: tstreet@wesleyresearch.com.au.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Workplace smoking cessation programs can effectively assist employees to quit smoking. However, little is known about employees’ attitudes towards engagement in workplace smoking cessation programs. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to address the limited understanding of the interaction between employee characteristics and their health beliefs toward engaging in a workplace smoking cessation program. METHODS:Self-report data was collected from 897 employees of a mining company operating in two remote towns in Australia. The majority of participants were male (73%), the mean age was 36.9 years (SD = 11.5). Chi square tests of independence were used to analyze relationships between employee characteristics and smoking cessation engagement attitudes. Engagement attitudes included: A desire to cease smoking; desire for assistance with the smoking cessation process; and intention to participate in a workplace smoking intervention. RESULTS:The findings from this study indicated that attitudes towards engagement in smoking cessation programs varied for mining employees according to gender, age, perceived severity, perceived self-efficacy, and stage of readiness to change. CONCLUSIONS:These findings provide insights that health promotion practitioners may apply to inform the design and marketing of effective workplace smoking cessation programs for similar employees.
Keywords: Health belief model, stage of change, healthy people programs, occupational health, occupational health services
