Intervention Trial of Culturally-Appropriate Decision Aids for Smoking Cessation

Despite the establishment of various smoking cessation methods, including pharmacological intervention, only a small proportion of smokers who visit doctors choose to receive such assistance. Such under-utilization is especially apparent in some cultures, as in the case of Korea, where a government survey showed that only 0.5% of current or formal smoker reported they had been prescribed smoking cessation medication. Shame in asking for help for an addictive disorder has been recognized as one of the most recognized cultural barrier in Asian-American population. It is clear that culturally focused studies on smoking cessation is warranted.

Patient decision aids are tools that help people become involved in decision making by providing information about the options and outcomes and by clarifying personal values. Patient decision aids have been developed to help patients decide whether to quit smoking or not, or whether to use smoking medication or not. However, such previous studies have only been focused on western populations.

The main purpose of this study is to develop a culturally appropriate decision aid for smoking cessation for the Korean population, as well as evaluate its effect on their decision to use smoking cessation medication. The investigators expect that culturally tailored smoking cessation decision aids would increase knowledge about efficacy of smoking cessation, make people have more positive attitudes toward smoking cessation medication, encourage people to discuss about smoking cessation medication with their physicians. Ultimately the investigators expect it would increase usage of smoking cessation medication and enhance the quitting rate of smoking, which is a very important clinical issue.