Abstract

Objective. This study was designed to investigate UK smokers’ accounts of impacts of COVID-19 on their smoking, to develop implications for supporting smoking cessation.

Design. One hundred and thirty-two smokers aged 19-52 years (mean age 25 years), recruited through an advert distributed through social media and a dedicated Twitter page, completed an anonymous online questionnaire.

Main Outcome Measures. Smokers produced written accounts of how COVID-19 had impacted their smoking. Responses were of unlimited length and completed online 22^nd May-22^nd June 2020 during UK COVID-19 lockdown.

Results. Inductive thematic analysis generated three themes: i) increased smoking as a coping mechanism to deal with anxiety, boredom, stress, and anger in COVID-19 lockdown; ii) lockdown as enabling quitting through lifting social barriers and enabling a focus on health benefits; and iii) no change, avoiding Government/media COVID-19 information due to disbelief, lack of trust, and perceptions of bias.

Conclusions. Results demonstrate a need for credible public health messaging on COVID-19 risk aimed at smokers. Implications for supporting smoking cessation are discussed, including maintaining quitting in those “social smokers” who quit during lockdown, and support on stress-management and emotion regulation in those who use smoking as a way to cope with stress, anger, and boredom.

摘要

客观。本研究旨在调查英国吸烟者对 COVID-19 对其吸烟影响的描述，以探讨支持戒烟的意义。

设计。132 名年龄在 19-52 岁（平均年龄 25 岁）的吸烟者通过社交媒体和专门的Twitter页面发布的广告招募，完成了一份匿名在线问卷调查。

主要成果措施。吸烟者制作了关于 COVID-19 如何影响他们吸烟的书面记录。^{在英国COVID} -19 锁定期间，回复的长度不受限制，并于 2020 年 5 月 22 日至 6 月 22 日在线完成^。

结果。归纳主题分析产生了三个主题：i）增加吸烟作为应对 COVID-19 封锁中焦虑、无聊、压力和愤怒的一种应对机制；ii) 通过解除社会障碍和关注健康福利来实现戒烟；iii) 没有变化，由于不相信、缺乏信任和偏见而避免政府/媒体提供 COVID-19 信息。

结论。结果表明，需要针对吸烟者提供关于 COVID-19 风险的可信公共卫生信息。讨论了支持戒烟的意义，包括那些在封锁期间戒烟的“社交吸烟者”保持戒烟，以及支持那些使用吸烟作为应对压力、愤怒和无聊的方式的人的压力管理和情绪调节。