Abstract
Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of poor pregnancy outcomes. Pregnancy is a trigger for smoking cessation yet, up to 50% of parents will relapse in the early years of their child’s life. This study explored the smoking-related perceptions and experiences of 11 parents seeking professional help with the care and parenting of babies and toddlers using semi-structured interviews. Inductive thematic analysis identified three themes: parenting as a change catalyst, smoking as a parenting challenge and smoking as a coping strategy. Becoming a parent is a catalyst to reduce the associated risks and stigma associated with smoking, but maintaining rules and boundaries can be perceived as a further burden for parents who are struggling to care for their infant. When faced with difficulties with parenting, parents may revert to smoking as a coping strategy. Based on these study findings, interventions targeting gender norms may be useful in addressing smoking cessation.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 549-561 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Child Health Care |
Volume | 25 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2021 |
Keywords
- Health education
- family health
- parenting
- postpartum
- qualitative research
- smoking
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Pediatrics