BMC Public Health
Volume 14, Issue 1, 2014

A qualitative study of smoking behavior among the floating population in Shanghai, China (Article) (Open Access)

Wang J.-W. , Cui Z.-T. , Ding N. , Zhang C.-G. , Usagawa T. , Berry H.L. , Yu J.-M.* , Li S.-S.
  • a Key Laboratory of the Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  • b Health Bureau of Xuhui District, Shanghai, China
  • c Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia
  • d Xuhui Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Shanghai, China
  • e Department of Native Hawaiian Health, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
  • f Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia
  • g Key Laboratory of the Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  • h Xuhui Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Shanghai, China

Abstract

Background: China has become the world's largest producer and consumer of tobacco and lung cancer is China's leading cause of cancer deaths. The large majority of Chinese smokers are men. Tobacco consumption is of particular concern among China's internal floating (or migrant) population, which has become a permanent feature of Chinese society, because this population is very large (over 100 million persons) and it has a high prevalence of smoking. Considering additionally that like the general population of China, the smoking prevalence rate of women from this group is quite low, we therefore aimed to explore smoking-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours among male smokers in the floating population to help inform the development of effective smoking cessation interventions in this important target group in China. Methods: We interviewed 39 floating population male smokers in six focus groups and performed a qualitative content analysis of the interviews. Results: Most participants knew that smoking is risky to health but they knew little about why. Habit and social participation were key drivers of smoking. Smoking was regarded as a core component of their identity by the urban residents. Some participants had tried to stop smoking but none reported having ever been educated about smoking. Conclusions: Smoking cessation interventions for China's male floating population would need to incorporate comprehensive education and information about why smoking is dangerous and the benefits of stopping. © 2014 Wang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Author Keywords

floating population China Qualitative study smoking

Index Keywords

China demography human epidemiology middle aged statistics and numerical data procedures Residence Characteristics smoking cessation Humans Tobacco Products smoking Adolescent male female tobacco prevalence prevention and control high risk behavior Risk-Taking adult migration Transients and Migrants
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84920797579&doi=10.1186%2f1471-2458-14-1138&partnerID=40&md5=c8578683aad4612ecba7d802bd6c644f
DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-1138
ISSN: 14712458
Cited by: 6
Original Language: English