Quality of Life of Smokers Seeking Help to Quit Through Telephone Counseling

Abstract

Introduction: Several factors may interfere with quality of life, including problems related to the use of substances such as tobacco, which consequently affect life satisfaction. The effects of smoking that affect the quality of life serve to alert smoker and also to motivate the person to quit and maintain abstinence. Objective: To evaluate the quality of life of smokers who sought telephone service for information and advice about drugs by applying WHOQOLBref. Method: Cross sectional study with users of tobacco and other psychoactive substances who called to a toll-free phone number between November/2009 and December/2010. Smokers answered a questionnaire covering data on social and economic features, tobacco consumption (quantity, frequency, diagnosis and severity of dependence) and the WHOQOL-Bref was also applied. Results: 105 smokers were included in the study. The social and psychological domains of WHOQOL-Bref in smokers showed statistically lower values as to the reference population (p=0.023 and p=0.001, respectively). It was observed that tobacco users had lower scores than non-dependents in all WHOQOL -Bref domains, although there were no statistically significant differences between groups. All domains correlated positively and significantly with global domain, but not with the intensity of nicotine dependence. Conclusion: Smokers have lower levels of quality of life when compared to nonsmokers, which could be directly related to dissatisfaction with various aspects of life including happiness and well-being.