Abstract

Title : THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMOKING CESSATION ONLINE SERVICES (SCOS)
By : CHANUTKAN SRIPRASERT, KWANCHANOK RAJCHOMPHU, THANAKIT WONGSIRIMATHAKUL, WIPAWEE CHADIT
Degree : BACHELOR OF PHARMACY
Advisor : ANUN CHAIKOOLVATANA Teeraporn Chanakit
Keywords : SMOKING CESSATION ONLINE SERVICES
   
Currently, the incidence of cigarette smoking has been increasing annually. Thus, the hospital services are still inadequate, as well as, lack of qualified smoking cessation counselors alongside with numbers of hospital provided smoking cessation services. As a result, the researchers decided to overcome the previous limitations by developing a smoking cessation online service (SCOS) through website to serve the need of people and hospital staff. The study was designed to be a survey, descriptive study. The analyses included; descriptive and rating scale analyses. It aims to develop a good smoking cessation online service, and evaluate the attitudes toward the service. The enrolled volunteers were ordinary people and hospital staff. The study start from 31st December 2008 through 27th June 2009. The volunteers accessed to SCOS and went through online counseling room will discussed any issues related to smoking cessation with the counselor, then will be asked to fill out the questionnaire containing; 1) demographic data, 2) Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), and 3) attitudes toward SCOS. The results showed there have been 202,509 people accessed to SCOS during the study period. However, there were only seventy-six volunteers filled out the questionnaire. Most of volunteers were between 21 to 30 years of age (52%). They are mainly male with university level of education (56%). They were also married (56%) and still have not got a job (40%). Noticeably, they were having some underlying diseases including; diabetes (80%), and hypertension (76%), respectively. Regarding the perceptions of smoking, they were well perceived about the dangers of cigarette smoking including; physical harm, surrounded people. Nevertheless, they were still smoking. It might be some factors involved such as stress, workload, friends, favorite areas of smoking, etc. These might cause a difficulty to stop smoking. They indicated stop smoking at once is still a good solution for quit smoking, followed by consulted with health care professionals. Finally, the volunteers were favorably impressed with SCOS. They mentioned the SCOS might be an alternative to quit smoking apart from the traditional methods. However, the SCOS still needs to be adjusted regarding; an adequate counseling skills of counselors, duration of counseling, media advertising, and the ease to access the SCOS
   
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