Smoking cessation interventions among Chinese Americans: the role of families, physicians, and the media.

This article describes the results from two studies of Chinese Americans. In one study, a convenience sample of patients completed face-to-face interviews to assess smoking patterns in the home, knowledge of tobacco, and ways in which health interventions could be communicated to the community. The other study involved two focus group discussions with the primary purpose of learning how spouses, health care workers, and the media can participate in smoking cessation interventions. A convenience sample of 795 patients at the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center in New York City's Chinatown was interviewed using face-to-face interviews. The focus group discussions were conducted using 15 volunteers. One discussion was conducted in Mandarin and the other in Cantonese. Although 92.7% of the respondents prefer people not smoke in the home, only 21% ban smoking with few exceptions. The focus group participants indicated that often the smoker is the oldest male and he also is the person who establishes the rules. Nearly half of the respondents receive most of their health-related information from their physician, and the focus group participants stated that physicians are highly regarded in their culture. Finally, the majority of respondents receive health-related information from Chinese language media. These results will assist in the planning of a smoking cessation intervention targeting Chinese Americans. The physician represents a key player in any intervention, and public health antismoking messages may be communicated effectively through Chinese language media.