The effect of a leisure education intervention on anxiety levels of individuals participating in a smoking cessation program /

Abstract

According to the literature, anxiety levels are exacerbated in individuals attempting to overcome addiction to nicotine (NIDA, 1998). It was hypothesized that a structured leisure education intervention, when added to an existing smoking cessation program, would reduce anxiety levels in individuals participating in the program. There have been no documented studies of leisure education being utilized as an intervention with individuals in a smoking cessation program.

The existing smoking cessation program which was used for the study consists of an initial visit to the Department of Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (VATVHS) Murfreesboro Campus Preventive Medicine Clinic. The initial visit included a written intake evaluation and an educational session which includes tobacco-related health information and education, discussion between the participant and a Preventive Medicine nurse and physician and the provision of pharmaceutical aids, when indicated, to assist with the smoking cessation process. Subjects were drawn from veterans who voluntarily participated in this smoking cessation program. To obtain a treatment group (n = 25) and a control group (n = 25), a scripted consistent fifteen minute verbal leisure education session and structured consistent written leisure education information were provided to each participant in the treatment group. The participants in the control group did not receive this leisure education session or the written materials. Participants in both groups completed the previously validated Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) during their initial visit and during two subsequent interviews by the investigator. Mean anxiety scores from the three administrations of the BAI to the treatment group and control group were analyzed using a 2 x 3 repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) to identify interaction effects.

The results indicate no statistically significant interaction effect of the leisure education intervention on anxiety levels of the participants. However, the mean of the treatment group across time does show a significant difference.