A prospective study of household smoking bans and subsequent cessation related behaviour: the role of stage of change

Objective: To assess the degree to which smokers living with a full household ban on smoking change their cessation related behaviour. Design, setting, and participants: Prospective cohort study; follow up of a population based cohort of 1133 smokers, identified from a 1997 telephone survey of adult Oregonians. After a median of 21 months, 565 were located and reinterviewed. Main outcome measures: Quit attempts, time until relapse, and smoking cessation, defined as seven day and 90 day sustained abstinence at follow up. Results: A full ban at baseline was associated with a doubling of the odds of a subsequent quit attempt (odds ratio (OR) = 2.0, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.0 to 3.9). Among respondents in the preparation stage at baseline ( intention to quit in the next month with a quit attempt in the previous year), a full ban was associated with a lower relapse rate (hazard ratio = 0.5 (95% CI, 0.2 to 0.9)), while for those in precontemplation/contemplation ( no intention to quit or intention to quit within the next six months, respectively), there was no significant association between full ban and relapse rate. For respondents in preparation, those with a full ban had over four times the odds of being in cessation for seven or more days before the follow up call (OR = 4.4 ( 1.1 to 18.7)), but for those in precontemplation/contemplation, full bans were unrelated to cessation. Conclusions: Full household bans may facilitate cessation among smokers who are preparing to quit by increasing quit attempts. They may also prolong time to relapse among those smokers.