Beliefs about control of smoking and smoking behavior: a comparison of different measures in different groups.

This study investigated several measures of beliefs about controlling smoking as predictors of cessation and reduction at one and six months after a medically-based control program. Smokers (n = 250 total) attending general medicine clinics at University and Veterans Administration facilities received advice to quit from both physicians and nurses. Beliefs about difficulty resisting urges to smoke in 15 situations, their frequency of occurrence, and general level of difficulty were assessed at baseline. For the University group of patients, significant relationships were found between both general and specific indexes and both cessation and reduction at one month. Although a greater change in smoking was seen at six months, few belief measures remained predictive. At one month, global measures were as useful as specific ones, although difficulty in situations of negative emotion was a consistent and strong predictor. Marked differences between the two sites were found; virtually no measure of difficulty proved predictive for the VA group.