Women who quit smoking during pregnancy don’t get nearly enough
support in their efforts to remain non-smokers after giving birth.
This is the conclusion of a team of investigators from UBC’s School
of Nursing and the Institute of Health Promotion Research (IHPR)
who are testing the effectiveness of a post-partum smoking intervention
program.
“It’s not simply a matter of telling people not to smoke,” says
Joy Johnson, assistant professor of Nursing. “Women have to plan
ahead about how they will handle high risk situations where they
will be tempted to smoke after the baby is born.”
Johnson says the adverse effects of smoking during pregnancy should
be strong inducements for women to quit. She cites evidence indicating
that newborns of smoking mothers are likely to have retarded growth,
reduced lung function, increased blood pressure and a host of other
serious health problems.
Reports indicate that about 50 per cent of women kick the habit
during pregnancy. However, studies also show that 70 per cent of
those women will resume smoking after birth.
Johnson and her colleagues believe nurses can play a key role in
supporting women who have quit during pregnancy.
To test this theory, the team is tracking the progress of 255 women
recruited from five hospitals in the Lower Mainland. Some participants
received the planned intervention which includes receiving information
and support from nurses in the hospital and later in the home through
frequent telephone contact.
“Sometimes calls are brief because things are going well and other
times telephone conversations are in-depth because these women have
a lot going on in their lives,” says Johnson. “Smoking is a tempting
way of dealing with the various new stresses and challenges they
face.”
Some new mothers receive an information package complete with no
smoking signs for their cars and homes as well as advice on what
to do when temptation strikes. Suggestions include: avoiding smoking
places and smoking friends for a while; chewing carrot sticks; and
distracting yourself by playing with or holding your baby or simply
waiting out the craving.
Johnson points out that cravings for cigarettes may die down during
pregnancy with the natural shift in hormones. However, often these
cravings return following childbirth.
Co-investigator Joan Bottorff, associate professor of Nursing,
says that there is very little structured information shared with
women about the effects of second-hand smoke on babies.
For instance, few realize that a small child held by someone who
is smoking will breathe in more cancer-causing chemicals than the
smoker. Sidestream smoke from the burning end of a cigarette has
more tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide and other chemicals than the
smoke inhaled by the smoker through the cigarette’s filter.
The Canadian Cancer Society pamphlet Growing Up in Smoke
claims that children of smoking parents cough and wheeze more, have
more ear infections, go to hospital more with bronchitis and pneumonia
and have reduced lung function.
Joining Johnson and Bottorff in the intervention study are assistant
professors Pamela Ratner and Wendy Hall.
The smoking intervention study is funded by the National Health
Research and Development Program as part of the Tobacco Demand Reduction
Strategy.
Results of the study are due out in June.
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