Kidanu Azieb W, Kidanu Tamnnet W, Butler James, Dyer Typhanye V
Behavioral and Community Heath, College Park, Maryland.
Carleton College, Office of Health Promotion, Northfield, Minnesota.
J Ethn Subst Abuse. 2023 Jan-Mar;22(1):60-78. doi: 10.1080/15332640.2021.1877230. Epub 2021 Feb 7.
Hookah smoking is emerging as a popular social practice and health behavior risk among Ethiopian and Eritrean Americans. This qualitative study was the second phase of a sequential exploratory mixed methods study and examined factors that enable the initiation and facilitate the continuation of hookah smoking among Ethiopian and Eritrean Americans. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-five Ethiopian and Eritrean American hookah smokers residing in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area of the United States. Interview questions were guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior and addressed: (1) initiation of hookah smoking, (2) past and current patterns of hookah smoking, and (3) behavioral, control and normative beliefs toward hookah smoking. Several themes were identified under the core constructs of 'factors influencing hookah smoking initiation' and 'factors influencing hookah smoking continuation' such as curiosity, lack of health knowledge, socio-cultural acceptance, accessibility, flavor, physical dependence, physiological effects and social connections. Based on these findings, it is recommended that future prevention activities (e.g. health messages) be embedded into a comprehensive tobacco prevention approach to address individual misperceptions of harm and addiction, community social norms and environmental access around hookah smoking, which contribute to both initiation and continuation in the Ethiopian and Eritrean American populations.
水烟吸食正在成为埃塞俄比亚裔和厄立特里亚裔美国人中一种流行的社交行为及健康行为风险。这项定性研究是一项序列探索性混合方法研究的第二阶段，考察了促使埃塞俄比亚裔和厄立特里亚裔美国人开始并持续吸食水烟的因素。对居住在美国华盛顿特区都会区的25名埃塞俄比亚裔和厄立特里亚裔美国水烟吸食者进行了半结构化访谈。访谈问题以计划行为理论为指导，涉及：（1）水烟吸食的起始，（2）过去和当前的水烟吸食模式，以及（3）对水烟吸食的行为、控制和规范信念。在“影响水烟吸食起始的因素”和“影响水烟吸食持续的因素”等核心构念下确定了几个主题，如好奇心、健康知识缺乏、社会文化接受度、可及性、口味、身体依赖、生理影响和社会联系。基于这些发现，建议未来的预防活动（如健康信息）应融入全面的烟草预防方法，以解决个人对危害和成瘾的误解、社区社会规范以及水烟吸食周边的环境可及性问题，这些因素导致了埃塞俄比亚裔和厄立特里亚裔美国人开始并持续吸食水烟。
