Abstract :
Introduction: According to GATS-2 report, one out of every five persons in Gujarat uses smokeless tobacco (SLT).Tobacco causes addiction & dependence over a period of time. Tobacco cessation is an integral part of the National Tobacco Control Programme. Objective: To estimate the proportion of previous quit attempts and its determinants among current SLT users of an urban slum in Ahmedabad. Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study using consecutive sampling was conducted between June 2023 - August 2023 among 250 current SLT users in an urban slum of Ahmedabad( Ward number 15). A pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire adapted from GATS-2 (Global Adult Tobacco Survey-2) Tobacco Questions for Surveys was administered among the participants for eliciting sociodemographic characteristics, SLT consumption pattern and quitting attempts. Results: In this study, 68.8% of the participants had at least one past quit attempt out of which 94.7% tried self- control methods. The most common reason for not being able to quit was perceived as addiction (70.9%). A larger part of SLT users (89%) had noticed warning labels in tobacco packets and 18.3% of them reported that they thought of quitting seeing that warning. Three fourth of the participants were advised by at least one person to not consume tobacco products & in 60% of the cases, it was the spouse. Conclusions and recommendations: The results suggest that there is an obvious lacuna in the community's utilization of services, despite the fact that National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) provides nationwide cessation services. This demonstrates the need for extensive community-based tobacco cessation activities.
Keywords: Smokeless tobacco(SLT), Addiction, Quit Attempt, National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP)
Keyword :
Smokeless tobacco(SLT), Addiction, Quit Attempt, National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP)