Health promotion for women: reduction of smoking in primary care settings
Mason, J.O.; Tolsma, D.D.; Peterson, H.B.; Hogue, C.J.
Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology 31(4): 989-1002
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0009-9201 PMID: 3067939 DOI: 10.1097/00003081-198812000-00025Document Number: 362373
Unnecessary deaths of women under age 65 should be a high priority among physicians and the medical community as a whole. In the discussion of the promotion of health for women and the reduction of smoking, the idea of health promotion is 1st embellished upon with smoking and the preventable diseases incurred by it being used as an example for consideration. A good base of health promotion is the development of a health education strategy. Health promotion is defined by the following activities: the advocation of healthy behaviors, the continuation of the promotion of such choices or the promotion of changes in unhealthy behavior, the parleying of preventive and curative health services and the acceptance of such facilities and the condoning of activities at a societal level that are supportive of preventative and health choices. As the number of young women who smoke now exceeds the number of young men, smoking among women is a growing concern. Although white women capture the greatest percentage in the ethnic division of smokers, black women are only a few percentage points behind. In addition, smoking increases inversely according to level of education with the greatest percentage occuring among women with little education. The consequences of smoking, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and additional risks relative to oral contraceptive use, are both apparent and serious. Measures such a mutually agreeable "quit plan," the creation of a smoke-free office and firm reinforcement in the discussion of smoking control are only a few of the steps a physician can undertake to support the process.